King of the Hill
by Zaidee
Summary: The Wizardry world has slowly but surely been crumbling for a very long time. Now with the great battle for the control of it all. Harry didn't grow up as the people thought he did but neither did he grow as Dumbledore wanted him to. Harry learns from a very young age that one must walk on their own two feet. How will this affect the future? Smart/powerful/dark Harry
1. Prologue

Okay so this story is inspired by and largely based to some degree off of a fanfiction called 'OUT OF THE NIGHT' by Raining Ink. If you don't know of it or the writer that is because Raining Ink left fanfiction to work on her own creations and so that she didn't get distracted or something like that, she took down her fanfiction 'Out of the Night'. Not really sure if she had others, don't think so.

Even though she has taken them down, you can find 'Out of the Night' on several other sites if you really want to read it and I honest recommend that you do as it was and is an amazingly written story.

**Forums**: .net ((forward slash)) php?t ((equals)) 14151 (just google it)

((**Edit:** I have recently found out that someone has taken up the story on fanfiction.))

That said I really do hope you like this story, as while I can put spelling mistakes or some poor gramma in it. I check each chapter something like 5-10 times, depending on whenever I am working on my stories. So I hope I have found most of the mistakes as I am always trying to find them but often miss some.

This story may or may not have slash in it but if it does, I don't think that it will be Harry at the moment. I know that Harry will end up with someone but as for whom, I really couldn't say because I don't know. Aside from that it will not be Ginny. I also haven't quite decided whether Harry will be more dark or grey.

The only other thing I'll say right now is that while my prologues always seem to be shorter then I'd like them to be, I always write longer chapters after that. So if you are someone who dislikes short chapters then don't worry as it only ever seems to the first chapter that comes out so short.

**Summary: **The Wizardry world has slowly but surely been crumbling for a very long time. Now there is a great battle taking place for the control of it all, will it be for the better or worse? Harry did not grow up as the people thought he did but neither did he grow as Dumbledore wanted him to. Harry learns from a very young age that one must learn walk on their own two feet. How will this affect the future of the magical world? Smart/powerful/¿dark-grey? Harry. Bad Dumbledore and 'most' of the Weasley family.

**Cover Pic:** eveandersson [[I swear, the amount of times I have tried to get these urls on here]] ((forward slash)) usa ((forward slash)) ut ((forward slash)) capitol-reef

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><p><span><strong>Prologue<strong>

On July 31 1982, at Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey. The day was like any other. It was a pleasantly warm summer that brought with it a cool refreshing breeze. Many children were out playing while parents watched, or chatted with other parents. Yes a day like any other, in their perfect little suburban life.

However, not all was as it seemed for in the house of number 4 Privet Drive. There was a blemish, a dark spot in the small family of threes' flawlessly normal life. Not that anyone else on the street was aware. But to the family known as the Dursleys, it was like a piece of chewing gum stuck in ones otherwise faultlessly neat and tidy hair. The only way to get rid of it was to cut it out and thus ruin ones hair. What was this blemish in their life you might ask; it was their two year old nephew Harry James Potter, or better known within the Dursleys as 'the Freak'.

For Petunia and Vernon who considered themselves to be the King and Queen of Little Whinging. Normality was held in great value. Why or how did they come to this conclusion you may ask? Well they considered themselves to be just that, perfection.

Petunia was a tall, thin woman with a little too much neck - though she would tell you that it simply made her look more extravagant - with light blue eyes and blond hair. The perfect example of an English woman she would say. She was the classic example of a stay at home wife who kept her home and gardens impeccably neat and always put a meal on the table. Her favourite activity was to snoop on other neighbours' in the area and thus she always knew all the latest dirt or as she like to call it gossip.

Vernon on the other hand was a rather large man - some might even go so far as to call him a beached whale - with small beady blue eyes and short black hair with a bushy moustache that he thought made him rather manly, if he did say so. He worked as an Assistant Director for Grunnings Dills and was sure he would be promoted soon to Director. He always had the latest car and made sure that their family always had the newest fashion, as well as entertainment.

Finally there was their little Prince that they were certain would one day rule the business world. Dudley was their two year old son and considered to be the spitting image of his father Vernon. He was round like a beach ball, with watery blue eyes and a blond tuff of hair on top.

The one thing that ruined everything for the Dursleys was their freak of a nephew Harry Potter. When they first found him on their door step nine months ago he was a child of average height for his age, with a glow about him when he smiled but they knew better. They knew he was a spawn of the devil himself. And to add insult to the injury that they were being forced to take him in without any extra assistant, he proved time and time again that he was far more developed then their little Dudley. At fifteen months he walked and fed himself with very little assist, while Dudley still did not show signs of either. As time went by the gap between the two children just seemed to grow. Then there was the freaks magic. No matter how hard they tried to stop it and even starved him in the hope that it would stop, he still kept using it. But today was the last straw. When they gave their Dudley the freaks stuffed bear to play with - 'Freaks don't deserve such things as toys' - he simply willed it back to himself and made their Dudley cry.

That was how Harry James Potter came to be found on the door step of Wool's Orphanage at ten o'clock at night with a note, his baby blanket and his teddy bear.


	2. Chapter One

I had already written this an age ago, so if I had has a thing to say about it I cannot remember now.

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><p><span><strong>Chapter One<strong>

Mrs Ranch at 42 years of age was a stout woman of average height with piercing blue eyes and short, curly dirty brown hair that was showing signs of grey. She had just managed - thirty minutes previously - to put all the older children to sleep with lights out by nine-thirty, as was the rule at Wool's Orphanage for the teens there. And was now reclining comfortably in an arm-chair by the fire in her office with a nice glass of whisky to relax from the hellish day she had been force to endure. The same repetitive day that she had been forced to endure all her all her life, or so it would seem. The irony of this event was that she was currently re-enacting one of several routines that her mother Mrs Cole would follow regularly in that very room over twenty-years ago.

Mrs Ranch, like her mother before her was one of those woman that you tell just by looking at her that she loathed children of any sort and would much rather spend her time appreciating the finer pleasures in life alone. Unfortunately she was forced - in her own words - to stay at the orphanage as it was all she had ever known having been born there on the 20 of April 1940. And she didn't have enough money to move elsewhere, nor the experience to find a different job with good income and well it help that her family had owned the orphanage for three generations. Form her grandfather Mr. Wool, to her mother Mrs Cole and then herself Alice Ranch nee Cole. An added bonus was that she could easily 'borrow' money from the orphanage to spend at her leisure and no one would be the wiser as she owned the building and in truth; she never really had to do much around the place as she made the rest of the staff and children do any of the jobs. So really life was rather easy for her. She just wished she didn't need to be near children for it and that she had more money, but you win some, you lose some.

So with all the other residents asleep, Mrs Ranch found herself just becoming pleasantly warm from the whisky in her system on the summer night of July 31 1982, when her peace was viciously broken by a harsh banging on the orphanage's front doors, followed by the clanging as the gate swung shut and the screeching of a car speeding off into the night. Mrs Ranch was annoyed.

Mrs Ranch grunted in discontent as she pulled herself out of her well-worn red velvet arm-chair and waddled her way through the hall to the front doors where she already knew that she would find another dribbling brat to add to the rest. All the while she prayed none of the other brats would be up because of the sounds, though they should be use to it by now. But if one did get up, she would make sure that they would know not to in the future.

When she finally reached the front doors and opened the left door, she did find the brat and couldn't help but groan in annoyance. She found a toddler sleeping in a blanket with a brown stuffed bear and a letter. Toddlers were amongst the worst of the trouble-makers in her opinion but luckily they hadn't had any children younger than four in a while. With a grunt she bent down and picked the brat up before carrying him inside and locking the doors behind her.

Her only saving grace was that when she turned back around the young assistant Amelia was standing there in her socks with a fluffy blue robe wrapped around her for some warmth. Amelia was a kind young girl with soft wavy brown locks, almond shaped hazel eyes and pale skin. She was the kind of girl that you would pass on the street and barely even notice, which may be why Mrs Ranch even tolerated her presence.

"Another one Mrs Ranch?" Amelia asked softly as she fiddled with her rob and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Unfortunately," Mrs Ranch grunted as she shoved the child into the girl's arms with a disgusted look on her face, "Since you are up. You can find a room for him and then proceed to see what sort of file you can make for him from that letter with him, if at all." She grunted before waddling off to find more comfort in the form of whisky.

Amelia sighed as she looked down at the adorable child in her arms. She could already see that he would be a heart breaker when he was old enough with his messy dark brown-almost black locks, heart-shaped face and smooth pale skin. She just wondered what his eyes would look like when he finally woke up. She made her way up the first flight of stairs to the second floor where the children's sleeping arrangements began and quietly made her way down the hall to room 5 which she knew was currently empty of any children.

The room was empty of all but the essentials, a steel cot and baby changing bench, a wooden wardrobe and a small empty toy box. You could tell easily that the furniture was aged and well worn, just as the walls, doors and windows of the orphanage needed a fresh coat of paint but not before you scraped of the current layer that was blistered and peeling. Truly it was no place for a child but they simply didn't have the funds. The four story orphanage with an attic and a bunker in the basement was barely scraping by to feed, clothes and care for all the children's basic essentials and schooling, and that was not counting that they only used two of the three floors above the ground floor.

She gently unwrapped the child and held back a sneer at the smell coming from him as she placed him on the changing table and changed him into a fresh nappy and a clean faded grey one piece. It was clear that while the previous carers were kind enough to not let him get to many sores that they had not properly fed him. With a sad sigh she placed him down into the cot with his teddy bear and blanket before she moved onto the letter that was left with him.

"Let's see who you are little one," She whispered softly as she unfolded the letter and read;

'Dear Reader,

The child that you have found with this letter is named Harry James Potter. He was born on the 31st of July 1980 to one Lilly Rose Potter nee Evans and James Charlus Potter. Lilly was born 30 January 1960 and James was born 27 March 1960, they married at 18 and died on the 31 October 1981 whilst driving home one night while James was drunk. Harry was the only survivor and was left with the scar on his forehead. We then found Harry left on our door step the next morning by some of their acquaintances. We do not want nor care for the abomination which is why we have left him for you to find. Do not look for us.'

Amelia looked at the sleeping toddler with a sad smile on her face as Harry moved in his sleep and cuddled his teddy in one arm.

"Happy birthday little Harry," She whispered as she closed the door behind her and set out to the office to make his file.

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><p>It didn't take long for the carers at the orphanage to comprehend that there was something different about little Harry. In the beginning their thoughts about the odd occurrences were divided to a point. Some said that he was a bad omen, whilst the other workers thought he was absurdly special but that didn't last long. Amongst them, only one knew the truth. Mrs Ranch knew instantly, when she heard the stories being passed around by the staff about bottles flying through the air and toys that danced around the room, that little Harry was different from all of them. He was like 'Him', a freak, a spawn of the devil and she made damned sure that all the other carers knew her opinion. From there it didn't take long for the seeds to be planted and spread and it took even less time for the children to catch on that there was something different and unwanted about Harry.<p>

Within a the next year there was two things that became very clear to all the occupants within the walls of Wools Orphanage, one was that Harry was extremely bright for a child of 3; almost too smart some would say, the other was that Harry was a freak and they all made sure he knew how they felt about him daily. At 3 years old, instead of playing with old wooden blocks or toy cars in the play room like most children his age would, he would make his way over to the books corner and while there weren't many, he had steadily made his way through the children's books and was already seen reading books written for 5 or 6 year olds instead of 3. Mind you it didn't help that in the times when Harry did try to play with some of the toys, aside from his bear, that the younger children would kick up a fuss and make the older children chase him away because they didn't want the Freak to contaminate the toys. Not that they knew what that word was but what they did know was that the carers didn't like him and that meant that he had to be bad.

Mrs Ranch was practically harsh to Harry. She always gave him the worst of the rags that they called clothes and any other second hand items they gave to the children and anytime something weird happened she would lock him in his room and withhold at least one meal that day. There was one time in which she withheld food for the whole day but then that night, he somehow got out and was found feeding himself in the kitchen. She got so mad that she gave him a good lashing with a thin leather cane or tried to; her cane vanished after five lashes to his back and the marks on his back also vanished, only to appear on her back. After that her dislike of him only seemed to grow, but she never tried to mark him again. Instead she would use a flat wooden plank to his bottom and other forms of punishments, because she still had the five thin scars on her back. That was also the first time that Mrs Ranch dragged him to the church they went to every Sunday morning and had the priest perform an exorcism.

At four-years-old it was decided that they would send Harry off to start year 1 at school a year early. Then he could be someone else's problem five out of seven days a week. They might have sent him to started him in nursery, followed by reception at school but the orphanage could never afford it, so they normally only ever started the children's educations at five to six years of age depending on when the child was born. It helped that the teachers there loved him and called him a prodigy. They even considered moving him up a year but they thought better of it and decided to give him one year to adjust before they decided anything. Harry didn't have a problem with starting school as he loved to learn new things and was beginning to lose interested of the more simple books at the orphanage. For some unknown reason the orphanage didn't seem to have much in terms of a library; in fact all its books above those of children's story books for six years old and younger always seemed to vanish, so they just stopped trying to get books for the older children all together. That was one thing that really annoyed Harry about the orphanage, well that and the people in it.

In Harry's eyes Ericson Banner was by far the worst though. He was two years older than Harry, with messy dirty brown locks that always looked like he just got out of bed and fell down around his chubby round face and muddy brown eyes. Looking at him made Harry feel thankful for his looks. He was always finding a reason to hurt Harry, take his things; including his food sometimes, and getting him into trouble.

At first he didn't understand why it was that people treated him the way they did at the orphanage. He was always as polite and proper as possible because he had read a story in one of the books about a young boy who was treated better once he learnt to be nice first and had hoped that it would help him. Now it was just a habit to cover up his true feelings and thoughts. He found that it also helped him when he was outside of the orphanage as well. For some reason it was only the occupants at the orphanage and the priest that didn't seem to like him without a reason or he thought in the beginning.

It didn't take him long to realise that he was different from the others, he just didn't know how exactly. He knew that he had these powers that could do things to the environment around him and the people and creatures alike. Like this one time when Ericson managed to take his teddy bear away from him when he was four and next thing he knew Ericson was on his back with a broken arm and his bear that Ericson has chucked on the ground in front of him with stuffing falling out was mended good-as-new. Mrs Ranch tried to blame him for Ericson's arm but there was no proof - she still withheld the rest of his food for that day though. He had tried to control it but had so far had little to no luck. He could make little things like a pebble fly to his hand though. He had used his free time at school to read whatever he could in the school library and had read about something called psychic powers which he understood the basics of had something to do with your mind but from that he understood one thing. It was all about will and how you perceived your own limitations. Even though it was still hard and tiring at times, he never stopped trying.

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><p>Now at five years old, Harry had started third year in the junior school half of the school. The teachers had spent the year observing Harry decided that he might do better in a higher year level. Even so, Harry often found the work easy for himself and the children his age too annoying. That isn't to say that he didn't like to play, he loved to play and it was even better that the children and teachers at school all loved and adored him and often called the other orphanage children bullies and the teachers were always watching out for them around him. He just found the things they fort over to be bothersome and often walked away when they got into silly fights about who was 'it', he would then wait until they apologized for being silly before he would play with them again.<p>

Running was one of his favourite activates and not just because it helped him get away from children at the orphanage but because the speed and the feeling of the wind in his hair made him feel that little bit more free and took away the feeling of being watched and judged. He also liked sports such as football (soccer) as he had read that it helped you to be healthy, strong and fit. It was also pleasant that the sports teacher Mr Gruel decided that he was so good that he put him on the schools Young Track Team. And with the help of his magic he managed to get Mr Gruel to get him on the local football team, all expenses paid by Mr Gruel of course. He knew it would likely be considered wrong but what did he care, he was smarter than most of them and he had the power to back himself up. And unlike other children he didn't have a parent to do things for him. So he made them happen for himself.

Unfortunately none of that really helped him much now, as he ran though through the halls skidding as he made a sharp right and headed for the stairs, he didn't really know where he was headed as he ran but away from Ericson and his little gang. How did this happen you may ask, well simple really.

Harry was minding his own business, sitting in the shade of an old tree by the edge of the yard reading a book for English class when he heard a small, feminine voice with a hissing-like quality to it.

"**Stupid humans taking away my warm sunlight,"** The voice mumbled as he heard the rustle of shrubs behind him. He was up in a millisecond as he stared at the tail of the small green garden snake slithering away. He couldn't believe what his mind was telling him but he quickly tested it to make sure.

"**Wait! I'm sorry did you just talk?"** Harry asked as he stared down at the small, slender Grass Snake in front of him that reached approximately thirty centimetres in length. It had a dark greyish-green body with black vertical stripes marking its body and a yellow ring around it head with dark jade green eyes, while its underside was patterned with altering black and white scales. It had stopped in tracks as soon as he spoke and was now facing him, reared up to see him better.

"**You are a Speaker?!"** The snake asked in shock and now it was Harry's turn to stare for a bit.

"**I'm sorry, what? What do you mean by speaker? Do you mean I'm speaking the snake language, because I am perfectly sure that it is you that is speaking English,"** Harry replied still in shock.

The snake hissed softly in what could only be laughter, **"Silly Speaker, it is you who is speaking Parseltongue and what an honour it is to meet a Parselmouth. To meet a descendent of the first speaker and here of all places. It had been thought that all the speakers were gone after the Dark One,"** The small snake kept babbling on, **"What is your name little Speaker?"** It finally asked.

"**My name is Harry, so this is another strange ability I have; this Parseltongue, that makes me different from the others here?"** He asked the last bit more to himself, **"What is your name little snake?"** Harry asked as he now squatted down by the bush to talk to the small snake at a more level ground.

"**Harry... How boring..."** the little snake muttered as it tested Harry's name and Harry gave a small laugh at it, **"I do not have a name Harry, we are not given any unlike you humans,"** The snake answered somewhat irritated, **"I would like one though but only if I am to stay with that person,"** It added as an afterthought.

Harry thought for a bit, **"I must agree that my name is rather boring but it is still my name. Would you like to stay with me then and be my friend if I give you a name?"** He finally asked, as he thought about how he would hide the small snake in his room.

"**Oh! I would like that very much; I would be honoured for a Speaker like you take such a young and common snake as I! And to be given a name by a Speaker! Oh, how jealous other snakes would be!" **The small snake spoke ecstatically, **"...You wouldn't give me a boring name though, would you?"** It added as an afterthought, making Harry gave another small laugh.

"**I shall try not to give you a boring name then but may I ask just to check encase I am wrong. Are you a girl?"** He asked a little nervously, he would hate to offend his new friend after all.

"**Am I a girl? Well of course I am female silly Speaker but I thank you for checking all the same, so that I may not have a male name. Now let me up, it is cold down here in your shadow,"** She added as she moved closer to Harry.

Uncertain but happy about a potential new friend, he held out he hand for her to slither onto, **"You won't bite me will you? I don't think that you are dangerous from what I read once but I think it still might hurt..."** He flinched slightly as he felt her cold smooth scales brush against his hand and then up his arm. He watched as she slithered up his arm and under his t-shirt, before stopping when her body wrapped around his forearm, while her head rest on his shoulder under his shirt.

"**I would never hurt a Speaker. It is impossible for any serpent to knowingly harm a Speaker-"** She didn't get to say any more as they both heard a shout from across the yard behind Harry.

"Hey Freak! What the hell are you doing over there?" Like whiplash Harry turned around to stare at Ericson, with his two goons Michal and Mathew behind him. Michal Conner was tall and lean, with windswept black hair, hazel eyes and a pug like nose; the staff would say that he must have been squished while growing in his mother, while Mathew was short and stout with hazel brown hair, and blue eyes. They really did make an image when standing next to each other that it often made him want to laugh. However he really didn't want to deal with them right now as he had just made his new friend and didn't want to risk her being found yet, if ever. So while Ericson spoke his eyes scanned for all possible exits.

"You have something don't you? I know you do! Give it here you Freak!" Ericson shouted, now catching the attention of the other children but Harry didn't move so Ericson took a step closer to Harry.

"Even if I did, I wouldn't give it to you; you unwanted bastard of a child!" Harry called back. Using what little control he had over his powers he pushed the three bullies to the ground before he bolted for the nearest exit, which happened to be the doors into the hall that was close to where they ate and the stairs were just around the corner at the end of the hall, which was how Harry got to where he was now.

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><p>Harry ran up the second flight of stairs towards the third floor where barely any children slept. With no more stairs to run up and the attic currently out of reach and the sound of pounding feet behind him, he turned sharply to the left and ran down the hall. That was when he felt a slight tingling feeling on his left. The door number was 27 - which was odd as he had always thought that number was missing before. But with the sound of feet getting closer, likely at the start of the stairs down the hall from the slight pause, he shoved his thoughts aside and yanked the door open. All but pushing himself though the door he slammed it behind him while he looked for a place to hide.<p>

He had enough time to notice that the walls were a mouldy yellow and that all the room held was a single steel framed bed on the right side against the wall, a old slightly-chard dark wooden wardrobe to his left in the corner and a wooden chair in the left top corner of the room before he fell to his hands and knees and by the bed and pushed himself underneath it in a vain hope of hiding, ignoring the masses of dust and dirt; his clothes needed to be washed this Saturday anyways. He hissed as he scrapped his left knee on a lose floor board but ignored it for now as he prayed that they hadn't seen him enter this room.

He held his breath - for more than one reason - as he heard them making their way down the hall towards him. He could only just hear the muffled sounds as they purposely slammed the doors loud enough so that he could hear them but knew they were also likely throwing taunts he couldn't hear. Finally he heard them right outside the door to his hiding place but they never entered.

He had waited, and waited but after five minutes after he heard them leave, so he slowly pushed himself out from under the bed, hissing again as he knocked his sore knee on the same lose floor board moving it slightly out from under the bed. Pushing himself up, he checked his knee first. There was luckily no open sore, just a scrape and some peeled skin. It was annoying but that was about it and he could tell that it was already being healed by his powers. He then glanced back around the strange room before looking back at the loose floor board. He might as well put it back in properly he thought. But as he moved the wooden board to put in back under the bed he noticed that there was something hidden underneath. And since the room was clearly abandon and had been for years - he carefully put the board down and reached into the hole and pulled out a worn black leather pull-string pouch.

Carefully creeping backwards so he didn't hit his head on the bed, he sat in the middle of the room as he stared down at the pouch in his hands. It felt so light that he couldn't figure out what could possibly be in it. With nothing else distinguishable about it though, he opened the top, he could vaguely make out items but couldn't seem to really see them so he tipped it upside-down into his lap but nothing came out, even though he knew it held something. So reaching inside he pulled out a thick yellow rolled up piece of paper that was tied shut with a green ribbon.

He had never seen such a thick and yellow paper before and he couldn't help but think that it must be really old. He could see written on the front of it in neat loopy cursive, _'To whomever found this'_. It was clear that whoever put it there wanted it to be found. So he carefully pulled one of the ends of the ribbon and watched as the bow fell undone and the ribbon fell gently into his lap. Slowly he unrolled the yellow parchment as he wondered what in the world the letter could say.


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

Slowly he scanned over the letter he had found, and what a shocking find it was. It was beyond anything he had ever expected and oh how excited it made him. And how many questions it gave him. He had to read the letter again just to make sure,

'_To whomever finds this,_

_My name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. I am a 14-year-old Wizard that has been forced to grow up in the despicable Muggle world. If you are in this room; my room, then you are either a Witch or a Wizard yourself._

_You may not believe my writing, but it is the truth. I don't know how long it has been but to have entered this room you must have magic and you must have some control over it because I have used my wandless magic and runes that I have learnt while at school to place some basic wards over this room to make it a safe haven for a child with enough skill. You may wonder what I mean by enough skill. Well you must be consciously aware of your magic and be able to show some level of control over it. Otherwise you would not be here. Congratulations are in order because from what I have gathered of my three years in the Wizarding world, you are already above the average Wizarding child in skill, if not also power. Most grown Wizards seem to rely on their wands in this age in order to focus their magic enough to use it. Therefore for you a child to consciously use your magic without a wand is considered to be extremely extraordinary. This is why the wards I created allowed you entree into this room. You will find there are a few other rooms like this throughout the orphanage if you look for them._

_I don't know how time has passed but when I was growing up here, my magic made the patron and all the other residents call me the 'Devils child'. But so long as you remain in this room and the person looking for you wishes you ill-will, they cannot find you, nor enter this room. The only time any Muggle; a person born with no magic, can enter this room is if they wish to find you with 'kind' intentions or have no ill-will towards you._

_Moving onto the leather pouch you found this letter in; while I was at school I managed to put a mild undetectable extension charm and feather light charm on it. This means that it bigger on the inside and will always be as light as a feather. The size on the inside of this pouch will have a limit however as I have only just finished my third year a Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Inside you will found two rough maps to Diagon Alley, where you can find shops and other such things and Kings Cross Station where you will find the entrance to Platform 9 and ¾ when it is time for you to go to school. You will get your acceptance letter once you turn 11 if your birthday is before September 1__st__ or 12 if it is after September 1__st__. There is also a copy of 'A Beginners Guide to Magic and the Wizardry World' for you to read at your leisure._

_Now before I end this letter, there is one more thing I feel I should explain to a fallow Wizard of some skill, the currency of the Wizardry world is made up of three types of coins. The largest coin is made of gold and called a Galleon, the next coin is silver and called a Sickle and finally there is a small bronze coin called a Knut. In my time one Galleon is worth 17 Sickles or 493 Knuts and a Sickle is worth 29 Knuts. The exchange rate of a Galleon into Pounds is 4.97 pounds to 1 Galleon and I am doubtful that it would have changed much is at all as the Wizardry world seems to be stagnant. One other thing, I would suggest going to Gringotts; the wizardry bank, and asking for an inheritance test. You may find that you are not a Muggle-born but possibly a Half-blood or Pureblood. I've heard it can be costly though._

_My last bit of advice is to look out for a Wizard by the name of Albus Dumbledore. In my time he is the Transfiguration teacher at school and the Deputy Headmaster which means he may be Headmaster by your time. He likes to meddle in other peoples life's and use them like pawns in a chess game. Unless you are able to learn an art called Occlumency, do not make eye-contact, he uses subtle Legilimency to read your mind and even memories._

_What you do with this information, I leave up to you. Tom Marvolo Riddle, 5 June 1941.'_

Harry could hardly believe it but it also made so much sense. The times he has pushed one of the other kids over to protect himself or when he turned Amelia's hair blue because she was annoying him, and so many other things. Harry had always been planning for his future, even in the most basic sense from the age of 4 but this, this changed everything. This made holes in his already loose plans and gave him only basic answers but if he ever managed to meet this Tom Riddle, he would have to at least thank him. Reaching into the pouch he pulled out the book and it was amazing to watch as it seemed to squeeze between the lips of the pouch and then resize itself - A Beginners Guide to Magic and the Wizardry World. It was clearly old and second-hand. It was a rather thick book that was bound in cracked and stained brown leather with faded gold lettering on the front and spine. The pages smelled musky and like lots of old disturbed dust. Not that he could tell much as that was also how the room smelt.

He flicked through to a random page that mentioned, of all things something called Chocolate Frog cards. There was a list of apparently famous people and their page numbers next to their names with brief explanations of what they did and even suggestions on other books to read to learn more about them or the subjects that made them famous. Looking though the names Harry finally remembered about his little friend on his arm.

"**I'm sorry, I was so busy running to protect you and then I found this room that I completely forgot about you. But I think I found a name for you,"** He gently ran his finger over the top of her head.

The snake lifted her head of his shoulder and pointed out of the top of his shirt to look around the room, **"It is about time you remembered me Snakeling; I was getting ready to do something if you didn't remember soon!"** She hissed in agitation, **"So what is the name Harry?"** She asked a little more softly but a light edge remained.

"**I was thinking of naming you Elfrida, the witch the name came from was the first witch to apparently try to create a more fairness amongst magical beings. I'll have to read the book though to understand more,"** He tried to explain his reason to the little snake.

"**Elfrida... I like it! My name from now on is Elfrida. Thank you Harry,"** Elfrida decided as she tightened her coils ever-so-slightly in what could only be described as a snake hug before she hid back under his shirt.

"**You're welcome Elfrida. I am glad you like your name. May I ask though, did you know about magic? That's what this letter I found talks about. It was written by a boy who lived here over forty years ago and explained that to be in this room I must be a wizard and apparently one with a lot of potential. Did you know?"** He asked after his brief explanation.

"**I did Harry. That was what I was going to explain if you didn't know already, when we were interrupted. All snakes are born with a basic understand of the magical world because in order to be a speaker you have to have magic, so we are born with the instinctual information, just as we are born with the instincts on how to survive,"** Elfrida explained, **"What will you do now Harry?"** She asked as an afterthought.

"**I don't know entirely. Since I was four I have saved any loose coins I find in the hopes of leaving here when I was old enough with enough money live somewhere. I knew that much about the world back then; that I would need money to live. When I started school I came to understand from reading that you need a job. I am still learning about this world and now I must learn about a second one. I need to learn more before I can decide but I believe that if I can live in the magical world without being called a freak then I will make my life there someday. I will not however learn nothing in the 'Muggle' world,"** as the word rolled of his tongue felt so weird to say, **"Like that saying, 'Know thy enemy' and while the muggles aren't the enemy, it is clear that the two worlds are split and the Muggle one doesn't know."** Harry explained as he thought about things that really shouldn't matter to a five year old.

"**I think though that I will however move into this room, that way no one will be able to hurt me in here or try and take my things,"** He growled the last bit as he thought about the times his things have been missing but he always found them. In revenge he made the children pay by taking something of theirs and sometimes in the nastier cases, he might trip them in a hallway or something along those lines.

Getting up, he made his way over to the window on the far wall and opened it, breathing in a breath of fresh air. He noticed with a passing thought that from this window that he could see to and from the front gate to the doors. He then proceeded to open the other window on the right wall above the steel bed, letting in more fresh air. Having opened the dusted covered windows and letting some better light in, he could finally see just how dirty the room was. Harry didn't care though, he had already decided that it would be his dirty, dusty room and it wasn't like cleaning was all that new to him. Mrs Ranch made all the children help clean around the orphanage from as soon as you could walk and talk. Even if in the beginning it was just putting things away, by the age of four Harry began to learn how to clean around a room and which products to use.

As it just so happened, there were supplies that were kept in the attic for when the items being used were finished. There was also old unused furniture he could eventually float down and put in his room. And if he was lucky he may even find some of the newer second-hand clothing and bed sheets and other things that he was able to take for himself from time to time.

So making his way to the door, he quietly opened the door and checked no one was around, even if everyone should be down stairs right now. Seeing and hearing nothing he made his way back down the hall towards the stairs and turned right up the hallway straight ahead. Once at the end he used his magic to pull the leaver that opened up the attic and allowed the narrow stairs to slide down in front of him. He slowly and carefully made his way up the steps.

Once in the attic, he turned on the torch he hid up here and pulled the steps back up, shutting the trapdoor so that no one would notice him up there. He had found things up here that he would have liked but he always knew that they would notice. But in this new room, even if they did notice, there would be nothing they could do because if they show any sign of ill-intent the wards would boot them out.

So looking around he found the supplies he needed to clean, cloths, lots of paper towel, a bucket, mop and broom, floor and window wash as well as a surface spray for the walls, and his furniture. He even managed to find a 'new' small second-hand vacuum cleaner. Putting it all into a box he floated it over by the trap door for when he left. That thought alone made him grin with glee.

As it was he was in luck, as there were boxes of new supplies for the children hidden in the attic right now. They only came in every three to six months and he was always given the worst of things and the items that the other children didn't want. So looking though the boxes he put aside an empty box and put a nice black backpack and a brown saddle bag, two new pillows, three sets of newish cotton bed sheets in white and forest green, two woollen blankets as the rooms would get cold in winter and warm in summer, a new doona and 2 doona covers in plain or simple patterns in black and green, two matrass protectors so that he could swap when changing his bed - which yes he had been made to do since he turned five - he put in a new tooth brush and a tube of tooth paste for later, as well as several sets of shampoo and conditioner, and a new green sanitary bag to carry them in as his old one was a horrible stained muddy-brown one with a broken zip, and several bars of soap, some new writing utensils and a green and black pencil case, as well as some blank note books, and a black umbrella. Before moving onto clothes as a large portion of his wardrobe was in need of replacing, but they never really let him unless he took it. He also had to get a second box as the first was full because of the blankets for the most part.

He took two pairs of blue jeans, one black pair, two pair of shorts, two pairs of dress pants, several different t-shirts, three dress shirts, one black vest he found and one light creamy brown vest, a denim jacket, a normal black jacket, several jumpers, two pairs of pyjamas, two pair of black dress shoes - one he would have to grow into a little more as the better stuff only came by rarely - one pair of white trainers, and one pair of converse since they were so cheap, some green gumboots and a thick black rain coat. Harry also found two caps in black and white, a pair of child size black sunnies and a worn silver watch with a black leather band.

Finally after moving the full box of clothing and things over by the trap door, he moved on to the furniture and things as he decided that this was the best early birthday present he had ever had. Not that he was ever given any presents unless he got it for himself. Looking through the things he decided that he would like a desk, which there were several of but he decided that he would like the old dark wooden one in the far back corner with the scratch on it and three draws on either side, stack upside down on top of some other things was an old dark green Victorian arm chair with dark wooden legs that had a broken foot but he was sure he could fix it if he tired hard enough like that time with his teddy bear and it look so comfy to sit in, in another corner hidden behind another pile was a nice looking tall dark, narrow wooden bookshelf that had two broken selves and several chips and scratches and close by to the shelf was a smaller dark green cushioned, dark wooden arm chair that must have matched the other chair but was a old desk chair. It was also a nice bonus that all the pieces looked close to match the same wood colour as the wardrobe in the room.

So leaving the furniture he wanted, he made his way back to the trap door and opened it a crack to check that no one was there. Seeing no one, he opened the door and slid the steps down as quietly as possible, before floating the three boxes of down to the floor below, before he climbed back down and made his way with the boxes, one at a time, to his new room where he spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning, while Elfrida complained almost constantly about the tastes in the air.

By seven o'clock he felt rather tired but now while everyone was in the dining hall eating, would be the perfect time to empty his old room. So using two of the three boxes from before, he chucked all the clothes and bed clothes he wanted to keep in one as well as some of his toiletries, and in the others he put some books he brought; since he was given very small allowance of 2 pounds a week from the time he went to school, as well as his few toys like his teddy, a old faded red wooden toy car, a puzzle and an old chess board he managed to save that still had all the pieces, as well as his treasures he had taken for every time someone wronged him - he would give them back if they ever said sorry but they never had. There was a blue broach that belonged to Sarah's mum, a set of tarot cards that belonged to Lexa; mind you she had just left the orphanage for good so he could probably just keeps them and maybe even use them what with being a wizard, a deck of playing cards that belonged to Mathew, a soccer ball that belong to Ericson; even though he never used it, and several other things. He also took out his few hidden money jars.

Back in his room He put the last bit of his clothes away, he lay back on his bed with is to new pillows; and unlike most things they were given at the orphanage they really were new, propped up behind him as he opened the introductory book to magic and the world it came from. While he gently reached up and patted Elfrida who was poking her head out from the collar of his shirt.

_Welcome to the Wizardry World and magic at large! This book was written as a guide for all those Muggle-borns' out there that do not understand the world they are stepping foot into. We have our own culture and historical background that goes back beyond the first B.C. We are the ones that originally help the Muggles to be where they are today and you as a Muggle-born would do well to remember that and learn about your true heritage, but then that is why you are reading this book isn't it?_

_So let's begin..._

_...there are several complicated levels to the social structure in the Wizardry world. At the top there are the Purebloods; Wizards born from a long line of other wizards on both parental sides._

_Then there are Half-bloods; now there are four main kinds of half-bloods, Half-bloods that are born from two other half-bloods, half-bloods that are born from one pureblood or half-blood parent and one muggle-born parent, half-bloods that are born from one pureblood or half-blood parent and a muggle, and half-bloods that are born from one pureblood or half-blood and one Creature or Being such as say a Goblin or a Giant._

_There are also half-bloods born from two muggle-born or a muggle-born and a muggle but they are more likely to be referred to as a muggle-borns, unless there is at least another two to three generations have passed and occasionally there will even be a half-blood born from a squib and a muggle._

_Following half-bloods there are Squibs, they are Wizards that are born of two pureblood parents but don't have enough magic to use themselves; they are often disowned and kicked into the Muggle world to fend for themselves as they are often looked down upon as lesser. In older times it was more common for them to be killed at birth so as to not risk being a threat in the future._

_Finally there are Muggle-borns, Wizards born to two seemingly ordinary muggle parents but are born with magic themselves, what many have forgotten is that if they were to trace their family back, you would find that they have a squib somewhere in one of their parents heritage._

_Last of all there are Creatures and Beings. The Witches and Wizards of the Wizardry world would like to say and will say that they treat all beings fairly, but in truth, they only ever look out for themselves. I would like to write this book saying how great we are as a race, but that would be a lie. We have the capability to be great but sometime in the medieval era or possible before that, we have lost track of who we are as people and our purpose in the world..._

Harry gave a small sigh as he looked at the time on his new watch, nine –thirty at night but he was just so tired from the day and he had already read close to half of the thick book but his new bed was just so comfortable that he was certain that the last tenant of this room, Tom Riddle had done something to make the mattress as soft and comfortable as possible, it would also explain why the room was twice the size of a standard room at the orphanage when all logic point out that it shouldn't be possible. He sighed as he decided that he could go one night without a meal; it wasn't like he hadn't done so before, he would just make sure to eat extra tomorrow before school. Turning the light off, he fell asleep thinking about what he had learnt so far from the book about the structure of the Wizardry world.

It truly was interesting if a bit disappointing at how biased they sounded. At the same time he could understand a least their grudge against the muggle-borns and how they were forcing the older wizardry families to change thousand year old traditions and culture because they didn't understand and refused to even try to see it their way, which really made him more annoyed with the muggle-borns then the purebloods. He swore that he would do better than the other muggle-borns and would embrace the wizardry world and its traditions with open eyes and arms.

He had already read briefly about each of the eight sabbaths; which where the equivalent of holidays in the wizardry world, the most noticeable witches through history up to the start of the 1900's; which meant this book was older than he had first thought, and some of the more common traditions, culture and laws of the wizardry world. Harry had just finished reading about light and dark magic but not much and it seemed to focus more on light magic and how 'good' it was when he had stopped.


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

Harry was glad that it was close to the end of the school year, it meant he would have more time to focus on his new plans for the future. Which so far Harry had only a vague idea of and he had spent the whole day thinking about it.

'But really how does one decide such things when they know little of the world they are entering?' Harry thought to himself as he walked to the local library before heading back to the orphanage.

He had come to the conclusion that he would have to speed up his Muggle education as he aimed to finish most of his secondary school by the time he received his letter and from there he would just have to finish the rest in his holidays. It helped that his teachers who were always watching him had been suggesting that he possible skip fifth grade and so he was going to finalise that next week before the holidays started. He had also decided that it was time he homed some of his more unsavoury skills if he wished to have money to get by in the new world. Harry's final decision was to see what information he could gather about magic from the muggle world as surely there were some things that had managed to leak through; such as stories of Merlin.

* * *

><p>Entering the library, Harry grabbed a red wagon that he kept behind the librarian desk for when he wanted to take more books to read than he could carry as he was greeted with a smile from the librarian Mrs Smelton who was a well aged old woman with her grey hair pulled back in a neat bun and stern blue eyes. Harry visited the library so often that she often watched out for him and helped him get any books he couldn't reach. At first she tried to get him to read the children's books, which he did for a while, but he quickly grew bored of them and moved on to more knowledge filled books. So she followed him today when she saw him head to the children's sections.<p>

"Good afternoon Harry. Is there anything in particular that you are looking for today?" She asked as Harry grabbed several books on fairy tales from different cultures.

"Afternoon Mrs Smelton I am working on a project for school concerning the history, myths and culture behind magic, the witch burnings, herbal medicine and more. I want to look at the subject from every possible cultural background and find the common grounds. So I thought I would begin with the most well known fairy tales, such as Grim's Fairy Tales, A Sprig of Rosemary and Tales of the West Highlands," Harry explained as he grabbed another book and put it in his cart. "From there I wish to look at anything on the subject in the non-fiction section," He finished explaining as he looked through the handful of books he had, satisfied that they would be enough for now.

"Ah, well then I can think of several that will help you. Come this way," Mrs Smelton said, leading the way.

In the end Mrs Smelton lead Harry through several sections of the library as she help him to find books on gardening, herbs, herbal medicine, the witch burnings, magic, the sabbaths, wiccan reed, famous wizards through history, medieval history, Tales of Merlin and much more. What Harry didn't know was that Mrs Smelton came from a long-line of squibs and that while they had no contact with the wizardry world, they had manage to keep their knowledge and hoped for the day they could enter again. Unfortunately Mrs Smelton was the last but she was certain that there was something special about Harry.

* * *

><p>Back in his room, Harry left the wagon of books in the corner by the chair. As he sat down in the middle of his floor with Elfrida wrapped around his shoulders as he completed his homework, as well as the test he had been handed in order to skip a grade when school restarted.<p>

Two hours later with his homework complete he pulled aside the collection of fairytales he had, a plain note book and pen and the introduction book he got from Tom and began to read the stories as he wrote down what abilities and traits he noted though out the tales that sound similar to subjects mentioned in the book to find how information may have leaked into the muggle world. By the end Harry had two lists that consisted of Sword play, archery, daggers, combat in some form and general fitness for the warriors. Then he had;

- Poison/medicines – Potions

- Transformations/ability to change things/alter reality – Transfiguration

- Ability to read the future/present/past – Divination/Astronomy

- Spells to effect people/things – Charms, Jinxs, Hexs

- Plants/herbs/gardening – Herbology

- Strange symbols/mythological symbols – Runes/Alchemy

- Mythical creatures – Care of Magical Creatures

- Spirits/ghosts/undead - Ghoul Studies

"**What do you think Elfrida? You think I missed any subjects mentioned in the tales?"** Harry asked Elfrida as he gently stroked her head.

"**I don't think so,"** Elfrida hissed softly, unsure of her answer, **"But I think you need to figure-out from that list, what you can learn right now from the muggle-world,"** She added as an afterthought.

"**Hmm yes,"** Harry agreed with Elfrida, **"I do suppose that there are some I will not be able to do much about until I either enter the Wizardry world or Hogwarts. I guess I should start with the physical side as from what I gather; wizards are not often very fit so that alone would give me an advantage if I should ever need it and assuming the world is still in the in the middle-ages like Toms letter implied. Why should I not learn to use a sword, daggers and a bow. Even if I don't need it, it does sound interesting,"** Harry explained his thought to Elfrida as he started a new list on things he would look into learning while dreaming of possible futures.

"**I should also learn Latin as it is apparently the most used language for spells, and assuming from the fact that Latin is such an old language, I should look at other ancient languages as well,"** Harry thought as he added it to his list.

"**What about more common languages, surly there is magic in other parts of the world?"** Elfrida asked as she looked at all of Harry's books from his shoulder.

"**I hadn't quite thought about it, but it does make sense and in the list of famous wizards in the book there were some mentioned to be French and I think other origans as well, so I should add at least French to the list,"** He thought as he taped the end of his pencil against his chin.

"**I'll most defiantly read up on herbs, plants and herbal medicine, that's for sure. I can't do much in way of potions right now but assuming that cooking is similar I can learn some in the future for practise and I know there is plenty on divination in the muggle world, for Runes I think I should also read up on mythology, which may also help give me knowledge on at least a few magical creatures that may exists, and I can keep an eye out for things that seem like spells or charms but I feel doubtful about there be any real things on it in the muggle world,"** Harry spoke as he looked down at his list, **"Did I miss anything Elfrida?"** He asked in thought.

"**Yes, I think so. What about things like etiquette and what about that tale with the man that played a flute to guide all the rats away? Perhaps you should also look at music, it would also be a good skill to learn and possible be able to use it with magic in the future,"** Elfrida said with a meaningful look, **"Besides, I would like to hear you play in the future and it would surely draw all the young maidens like the stories,"** She added childishly, which made a slight pink tinge Harry's cheeks.

"**I will look into to it Elfrida, thank you,"** He said as he added etiquette and music to the list, **"I suppose on that bases of etiquette and manners to fit into a more refined culture that I should also look into dancing so that I may be a true gentleman like in stories,"** Harry added as an afterthought so in the end Harry's short list had become somewhat long with ideas of what he may need for the future which consisted of martial arts, weapons, languages – Latin, French and possibly more, gardening, cooking, divination, runes, mythology, magical creatures, music, etiquette and dancing.

With a vague idea of what to teach himself or find lessons for, Harry moved the pile of classic fairytales to rest on the chair in the corner, along with his note book and the introduction book as he currently didn't have a bookshelf in his room.

With the objective of trying to fix some furniture for his room, he made his way to the trapdoor for the attic and after making sure no one was there quickly made his way up and shut the door behind him.

"**Its stale up here,"** Elfrida whined almost immediately, as she hid her head underneath Harry's shirt making Harry laugh lightly.

"**Yes, I do suppose it would be, wouldn't it?"** Harry answered back as he made his way over to a random pile of broken or unwanted items and picked up a small wooden statue of a horse reared up on it's to back legs that had its two front legs missing.

Setting the horse on the ground with its two legs next to it, he sat down with his legs crossed as he fiddled with the horse and tried to see what it should have looked like before setting it down once more and trying to visualise what he wanted in his mind he tried to push that thought forward of what he wanted his magic to do. At first nothing seemed to happen, but after ten minutes of sitting there trying to push forward what he wanted with the constant thought of 'repairing what was broken', the legs moved into position and seamlessly reattached themselves as if they were never broken. Ecstatic that it worked, Harry went and grabbed a broken brown clay vase and five minutes later it was fixed. With two things fixed with his magic, Harry floated the broken armchair down from the pile and after making sure he knew what he wanted it to look like, he sat down to try again. In fewer than ten minutes he had the broken foot of the legs fixed and whole again.

Brushing the dust away he jumped into the seat with joy at how comfortable it felt. Happy with his achievements, he decided to take the arm chair and the vase to his room before he tried anything else.

Once in his room, he placed the armchair against the wall opposite his bed for now and placed the vase on the far windowsill. Next he repaired the bookshelf he wanted, that took him fifteen minutes to do which he then carefully moved back to his room where he placed it against the wall by the door and preceded to float his handful of books to the top self and put all the ones he had borrowed on the shelf with in arms reach. After that he easily fixed the desk of any scratches but he had a hard time having to twist it around in the air, in order to get it through the trap door and the last thing was the chair which was by far easier to fix and take to his room, where he placed the desk against the far wall in the left corner under the window and lastly he twisted his wardrobe so that it was sitting in the corner diagonally and placed the old wooden chair in another unused room.

"I officially love my new room!" Harry all but shouted as there was no one to hear him but Elfrida, as he lay back on his bed and admired his work.

"**It is rather nice now, if only you could do something about the yellow walls..."** Elfrida commented as she curled up on the pillow next to Harry.

"**Elfrida, I think I am slowly coming to the conclusion that anything is possible,"** Harry said with a grin as he relaxed with his arms behind his head.

* * *

><p>The next day Harry woke up with the sun and quietly crept down stairs to the basement, it was Saturday and that meant that it was also laundry day. Ordinarily the older children and staff were meant to help the younger children but this was just another thing that Harry had learnt to do for himself, because if he didn't they would find a way to either ruin or lose his clothes from time to time. So Harry had a habit of always waking with the sun so that he could wash his things before any of the other children or staff were up.<p>

Half an hour later Harry carried his small load back up stairs and after opening his windows he tired up some string between the curtain-less window rods and the hook on the back of his door to hang his small pile of washing. With that done, he went down to get some breakfast made for himself and decided to finish the book.

Nearing nine o'clock in the morning Harry finished reading the 'Introduction to Magic and the Wizardry World' and learnt in the vaguest of sense about its history, several known magical schools around the world; Hogwarts in Scotland, Drumstang Institute in Norway, Mahoutokoro in Japan, Beaxbatons in France, Belomagica in Brazil and Salem Witches' Institute in America. This gave Harry several more languages he wished to learn including Norwegian, German, Japanese and Portuguese.

There were also a few other styles of smaller schools mentioned, such as Charm School which was located somewhere in Great Britain; where well off young witches and wizards born in the wizardry world went before Hogwarts. This was something which annoyed Harry as it clearly put muggle-borns such as him at a large disadvantage but it also made him want to work harder to be the best. He also learnt more about cores and how it was like a muscle, in order for you to have better control of it and for it to get stronger you had to exercise it regularly. It also suggested meditating regularly in order to be more aware of your core and your magic as it circulated though your body.

Harry gave a small smile as he shoved his thoughts about the many tasks ahead of himself away while giving Elfrida a pat on the head.

"**So, shall we begin accumulating more money for to see the new world?"** Harry asked Elfrida with a grin as he gently placed her on the bed and moved over to his wardrobe when he pulled out a set of some of his best casual clothes and grabbed his saddle bag.

He left the orphanage unnoticed wearing a pair of cream pressed shorts, a white short-sleeve button up shirt and his black jacket and his fixed, new looking brown saddle bag and caught a bus to a somewhat close but richer side of town where he spent the day unnoticed as he walked around and used his magic to slip peoples wallets from their pockets as he pasted them. He then spent his afternoon reading in his room before he made an appearance for dinner. Less they think he had run away or something, not that they would care much but the less he was noticed the better. He then repeated most of what he did the day before on Sunday with the slight difference being that instead of doing washing, which he had put away before he went to sleep last night, he had to spend his morning sitting on a stiff wooden bench as he was forced to listen to the priest harp on about his holy father and what not.

By the end of the weekend he had 800 pounds from all the unsuspecting upper class that he put away to exchange plus a little more he kept to use in the muggle world. He could have done similar in the past but at the time he was afraid of being caught out and even in his best clothes he would have stuck out more now at close to six-years-old he could pass off as a seven, so people will still question it but not as much, and besides he didn't feel he had a good enough reason to either as he as getting by. But now with the need for money in the new world, well that made it different, it was more urgent. With rough calculations on the basis that the exchange rate was still £4.97 to 1 Galleon, Harry guessed he had about 160 galleons, 5 sickles and 2 knuts. He just hoped that was enough for a day when he went to see the place for the first time.


	5. Chapter Four

Before I say anything else I want to say, it only took a little under 19hrs for this story to appear when I posted the first 4 chapters because of a glitch or something. How annoying, I do hope it doesn't take half as long for this one to appear.

**Special thank you** to My Alternate Reality, Aridethdar, Man of Constant Sorrow and xXSakuraBlossomsXx for sending me reviews and letting me know what they thought and also to Man of Constant Sorrow for bring my attention to something I had honestly forgot to think about but now I've manage to find somewhere to squeeze it in ahead without having to back track. XD

Now one with the show.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter Four<strong>

After the weekend, Harry finished his last week of school. He passed the test to skip a year with ease and was now set to complete his sixth and final year of Junior school the following school year. He continued with his self teaching from the books he got at the library, reading though them at a reasonably fast pace. Finally the summer holidays came three weeks into the month of June and many children were seen grinning and laughing as they spoke of all their plans they had for the six week long holiday.

But young Harry paid this no mind, he had his own plans to complete, such as the fact that he had now taken up mixed Martial arts class ever Tuesday and Friday from six to seven at night for the next year at least. He wanted to do sword fighting and archery as well but he thought that they might think him still too young, so instead he stuck to reading books on the subjects for now. He had also signed up for an Art class on Mondays from four thirty to five thirty, which would start again after the holidays and was followed by his soccer practice from five thirty to six thirty. You would think that Harry vanishing for hours would worry the workers at the orphanage and in any other case it might have, but in truth they were beyond caring where young Harry was concerned.

Learning aside, Harry had to admit at least to himself, that he was truly excited about these holidays, more specifically today. As for the first time ever he was going to see the Wizardry world as his early birthday present to himself, he was currently sitting on a bus to Charing Cross road.

* * *

><p>So at nine thirty in the morning, roughly twenty minutes later, bus number 88 pulled up at Harry's stop which was around the corner from his destination. The closer he got, the more excited he felt. Not that you would be able to tell much as Harry had already schooled his face to an expression of calm, as if what he was about to see for the first time was an everyday occurrence to him like, all the rest.<p>

He made his way up Charing Cross road at a slow pace as he observed how the larger percentage of people; the muggles he thought to himself, walked straight by the tiny grubby-looking bar called the Leaky Cauldron. Slowly he pushed the door open and calmly took in his first real glance at the Wizardry world.

To say he felt a little shot down, might have been an understatement. According to the book he had read, the Leaky Cauldron was supposed to be a very famous place but from what Harry could see it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smocking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the barman, whose hairline had receded halfway back on his head and looked like a gummy walnut. A few heads turned to look his way before going back to whatever they were doing. Some even sneered at the muggle cloths he was wearing, which was saying something as he was wearing his best black pants, a white button up shirt with his black vest and black dress shoes but then again maybe it was something else they didn't like. The barman was still busy talking and Harry didn't want to draw more attention to himself then he needed to. So he quickly made his way to the door at the back; which the book had mentioned led to the entrance of the alleyway.

Harry found himself in a small, closed-in courtyard, where there was nothing but a dust bin and a few weeds, just like the book described, well aside from the weeds. He counted the bricks on the wall above the bin in his mind he prepared himself for the unknown.

"Three up ... Two across ..." he mumbled under his breath as he pulled some of his magic into his right hand and tapped the brick on the wall three times.

The brick he had touched quivered and wriggled before slowly at first, a small hole appeared in the middle and grew wider and wider. A second later Harry found himself facing an archway larger enough for someone 12 feet tall to fit through.

The first thing he noticed about the cobble street before him was how it twisted and turned out of sight. That aside Diagon Alley was truly a sight to behold. He walked forward calmly with an air of confidents and false fad of awareness as he subtlety took in the sights around him as a giddy feeling filled him.

The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. _Cauldrons – All Sizes – Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver – Self-Stirring – Collapsible_ said a sign hanging over them. He carefully took in the sights of things around him as he walked up the street; the shops, the things outside them, and the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as he passed, saying, "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're mad..."

A low soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying _Eeylops Owl Emporium – Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown and Snowy_. Several boys of varying ages that were older than Harry by a few years, had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus One Thousand Nine Hundred – fastest broom ever–" There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon and much more.

Finally Harry came to the building that had been mentioned in the book, Gringotts Wizardry Bank. The snow-white marble building seemed to tower over the other little shops. Standing besides its burnished bronze doors wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold were two Goblins. Just as the book said, Harry thought as he made his way to the doors, giving a small nod to each of the Goblins as he enter after briefly reading the warning on the glass.

_Enter, stranger, but take heed_

_Of what awaits the sin of greed,_

_For those who take but do not earn,_

_Must pay most dearly in their turn,_

_So if you seek beneath our floors_

_A treasure that was never yours,_

_Thief, you have been warned, beware_

_Of finding more than treasure there._

Inside, there weren't that many people, possible because of the time so Harry made his way over to a counter and waited quietly as the Goblin finished weighing what Harry recognised had to be galleons before he spoke.

"Yes?" The goblin asked as he stared down his long nose at Harry who didn't reach the height of the counter.

"Excuse me; I'd like to exchange these rolls of muggle money to Galleons if you please. There is eight hundred pounds all together. Unfortunately I am unsure of the exact exchange rate right now," Harry tired to be polite as he reached up on his tippy-toes to give the goblin his eight rolls of muggle money.

"Do you have a purse to put it in?" The goblin drawled as he counted over the money.

"No, I am afraid I do not. I was hoping that you could help pervade me with one, I'll pay for it of course," Harry politely replied.

"Fine then, the exchange rate is currently at 4.97 pounds to 1 galleon. So you will have 160 galleons, 5 sickles and 2 knuts. A standard purse with an invisible extension, feather light and anti thieving charm will cost you 5 galleons," The goblin coolly replied.

"That will be acceptable. Would you please take the amount needed and put the rest in the purse." Harry asked and he began to think of what to look at first. It only took the goblin a few minutes to get the needed amount of money for Harry, who quickly put the purse in his pocket before thanking the goblin and exiting the bank.

Focusing more on the sights of the shops around him now that he had money Harry thought of what he should get first, while contemplating how far the money he had would last him. As he walked around scouting the buildings, he had seen at least five stores that sold strange pieces of things in jars; Apothecaries he thought to himself but he wasn't interested in going to them yet. Two pet shops, a strange holiday agency called 'TerrorTours', two wand shops; though one seemed to be more favoured then the other and many more places. All the while the bag of gold, silver, and bronze jangling cheerfully in Harry's pocket was clamouring to be spent. Finally he came upon a store titled 'Second-Hand Robes'. He had seen it when making his way to the bank and thought that it would be best to bend in more before he decided on anything else but also had no idea what prices might be like.

With that in mind he entered the store. The sound of a bell jingling greeted him as he pushed the door open and took his first look around. The shop was long and thin with dark creamy-yellow walls and wooden cupboards with dark red wood benches and trimming around the walls and windows. Every rack or shelf was filled with such a clutter of mixed variety of robs and other clothing that Harry almost didn't know where to start. So not seeing the store owner or a worker, Harry made his way to the first rack he saw and began his search for a reasonable piece of clothing to wear.

There were some styles so old that Harry didn't even know why they were there to begin with, ones with puffy ringed necks and extremely frilly sleeves and ones in the most horde colour combination that he was certain the person had to have been colour-blind. He was on to his third rack and had only found one reasonable dull-black cloak with basic silver clasp in his size, when he felt something fluffy brush against the back of his leg, looking down he was greeted by the sight of a fluffy grey cat with intelligent hazel eyes.

Kneeling down, he gently ran his hand down the cats back and began to scratch behind it ears. "So what is your name oh graceful cat?" he asked as the cat began to purr from all the attention, not that he expected an answer. His thoughts however were interrupted when he heard the sound of footsteps.

"There you are Thomas!" the voice of a young woman rang though the room. She was a tall, pale, willowy woman with shoulder length curled brown hair style like it was the fifty's and pale green eyes that sparkled against her violet robs. She had stopped rather suddenly when she spotted Harry down by the cat, "Oh hello! I'm sorry I didn't see you when you came in," she exclaimed, "So I just assumed that someone had changed their mind after opening the door. So I went back to cleaning up the back room. I'm Gianni by the way, Talia Gianni." She finally introduced herself, ending in a lower tone then when she first started talking, her face slightly flushed from embarrassment.

"I'm Harry, Miss Gianni and please don't worry about it. I was just looking, hoping to find a reasonable set of robs in my size but I've only found this cloak so far." Harry explained as he brushed invisible dust from his pants after standing up.

"Oh, well let's go over this way then," Miss Gianni motioned with her hand as she began to walk further into the store her robs flowing elegantly behind her, "There are more children sizes over here, plus I can help you to pick out something closer to this eras fashion. You didn't hear this from me Harry," she cupped her hand around her mouth as she began to whisper, "but the reason those hurried outdated pieces are at the front is in so that someone foolish enough will buy them and then I won't have to look at them again." She winked as she began to flick though the racks for something both nice and in Harry's size or close to.

She would grab a piece - hold it against Harry to check if she thought it was reasonable - she would then ask what he thought, before either putting it back or adding it to a small ever growing pile to try on. Finally when she felt they had enough she led him through a red curtain on the left hand side near the back, where she had him try each of the items on to check both their size and if they suited.

"So Harry, I didn't ask earlier because it's not entirely unusual for children to be told to get something in particular while parents take care of something but where are you parents or guardian?" Miss Gianni asked as she pinned the hem up on a practically nice midnight blue robe with silver trimming that some rich child probable never even wore; while Harry stood on a raised platform.

It wasn't hard or even anything new for Harry to think of something reasonable on the spot, "My parents said that they would meet me at the book shop because my father hates shopping and if my mother were here she would ended up trying to buy too much," he rolled his eyes as he said this, "she simply loves to shop too much and as father often says, 'doesn't know how to or isn't capable of saving money'." He sighed for in mild frustration.

"Ah, I see now. Well I'm finished with this rob now and I must say it looks marvellous on you Harry," If Ms Gianni were a cat, one might think she had just been given creamed milk with how pleased she looked as she looked over the adjustments she had made to the robe to make it fit Harry's slightly thin frame and height. "Now why don't you go try on the green and black one, and then you'll have tried every piece we chose on, and we'll see how it looks," she turned around and waved her wand, whispering incantations to clean up the small mess that had been made from trimming some of the robs, cloaks and other bits of clothing. When she turned around Harry was back in the too long black and green rob and had the blue robe folded in his arms which he handed to Gianni to add to the small pile.

It wasn't long; a pin here, a stitch there, a trim there, and the faded black and green robe with a high collar, tight sleeves and slightly filly sleeve ends fitted Harry just as well as the blue one.

"Thank you for the help Miss Gianni. May I go and change into the blue robe before paying?" Harry asked as he stepped down from the platform while Gianni put things away.

"Go ahead Harry, I'll meet you out front with your other items," Gianni said as she charmed the broom in the corner to sweep the floor for anything she missed.

Shortly thereafter Harry came to the front of the store with the black and green robe in his arms as Ms Gianni rung up his shopping. He ended up getting two black cloaks - one for summer and the other for winter - and three sets of robes - the blue one he was wearing, the black and green set and a pain black set.

"Now let's see the summer cloak is 17 knuts, the winter one is 3 sickles, the plain black robes are 27 knuts, the green ones are 3 sickles and the blue ones are 7 sickles so that comes to a total of 14 sickles and 15 knuts." Gianni said as she put Harry's things into a heshen shopping bag with a shallow extension charm on it and Harry quickly paid with a thank you and left for his next destination.

Harry's next stop and part of his birthday present to himself was to go to the book shop called Flourish and Blotts and depending on the prices he would buy one or more books brand new for himself. When he entered the busy store it wasn't hard to see that the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all.

Looking around he soon come upon one of the sections he wanted to see the most for more information, History. There were so many books that he felt like he didn't quite know where to began but in the end he decided upon four books about history, '_Modern Magical History, __The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, __Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century and Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century'_ so that he might know about any important events and people. Harry also added four law books to his pile, _'__Laws of Conduct When Dealing With Muggles, Legislative Guide to the Proper Use of Magic__, __Magical Misdemeanors in the Modern Law__ and __Magical Moral Perspective__'_. He then proceeded to glance though the other subjects available but made himself not pick them up because he didn't want to spend too much; even if the book titled _'Curses and Countercurses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much More) by Professor Vindictus Viridian'_ sounded very interesting and he was certain he would come back for it another time and besides he could always look at the second hand stores. In the end those four history books cost him 13 galleons and the law books cost 20 galleons, which was way more then he intended to spend but also goes to show how much cheaper things were second-hand in the wizardry world.

It was when he was in Cranville Quincey's Magical Junkshop that Harry came upon something strange. On a shelf at the back of the store, in amongst many books was a book series called _'The Adventures of Harry Potter'_ - it seemed to be about a boy of similar description to himself, but where he had dark brown hair the boy had black, and where he had perfect twenty-twenty vision the character in the book wore large, round over the top glasses. And the stories, they were so unbelievable; a seven year old boy fighting off a fire breathing dragon, yeah right. Though he would likely deny it, he did add them to his shopping basket anyways because he was curious about all forms of the new world he had discovered and that just happened to included children's books too.

So with his wish to start from the bottom up and learn about this world, he added more than a few children's books to his items since they were only a few knuts each. He had a copy of '_Children's Stories'_ - which seemed to have a lot of magical version of the common muggle fairytales such as Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast, _'__The __Magic Storybook'_ - it was charmed to read out-loud, _'__The Tales of Beedle the Bard__ by Beedle the Bard, __The Toadstool Tales__ by Beatrix Bloxam – which was strangely only 1 knut,__ A Children's Anthology of Monsters by Newton Scamander__ and Household Stories by Brothers Grim_'. He also came across two comic books called 'The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle and Loony Nonby v.s. Cornish Pixie', all of which sounded interesting.

Aside from children's books he did discover one strange book by itself, it was called _'__Pureblood Directory by Anonymous'_, although on it spine underneath that someone had scribbled _'By Cantankerus Nott'_. It sounded like it would have some interesting insight so he added it the pile. In the end the total for the complete set of Harry Potter was 14 sickles; 2 sickles a book, the other children's books cost 1 sickle and 2 knuts, the comics were a knut each and the _Pureblood Directory_ cost 10 sickles, so it came to a total of 1 galleon, 8 sickles and 4 knuts.

With what seemed like some of the more important things to do out of the way. Harry decided that it was time to be the child he was so he walked back up the alley to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. It was while waiting in line, close to being served, that he met another boy his own age. A man behind his had pushed him, causing him to falling into the boy's back.

"I apologise, I didn't mean to fall into you," Harry explained as he righted himself and took a step back. "My name is Harry," He smiled as he held out his hand for the boy that was now facing him with a look of veiled annoyance on his face. He was lanky looking with short fiery red hair, blue eyes, a long nose and a freckled complexion. You could tell he wasn't the best-off by his worn, hand-me down cloths, so for him to get an ice-cream might have even been a rare treat. The boy seemed to look him up and down before a sneer graced his features.

"Don't touch me you Death Eater in training," he then turned his back to Harry and proceeded to order himself a single scoop of cookies and cauldron cakes. Harry didn't quite know how to feel at first but in the end he schooled his face to look blank as he tried to ignore the feeling of disappointment. His thoughts however were quickly interrupted.

"Ignore Ickle Ronniekins–" A voice spoke up from the left in front of him, drawing his attention to a pair of identical boys who must have been the other boy's brothers because they had the same flaming red hair, blue eyes and abundant freckles but where the boy seemed lanky, these boys were of a shorter and stockier build for their age - but that is not to say that they were shorter than their brother - for they were not.

"He doesn't know–" the one on the right took over from the other.

"The first thing–" They ping-ponged back and forth.

"About manners–" His head pulled right.

"Harry was it?" Then left again, hardly keeping up with their odd way of speaking. 'Were they telepathic like he had read about in a book from the library?' he had to ask himself, before realising they were done speaking for the moment and were waiting for an answer and that it was his turn to be served.

"Yes, I'm Harry. One moment please," Harry apologised as he quickly ordered himself a large, double scoop chocolate and raspberry flavoured ice cream with chopped nuts sprinkled on top for 4 sickles and 2 knuts for the extra nuts on top.

Seeing that the two brothers didn't have an ice-cream like their brother and feeling generous because they were being friendly so far, he turned to face them for a second, "I noticed that you don't have an ice-cream like your 'brother'?' he questioned himself on the odd possibility that he was wrong, "Would you like one?" he finally asked and watched as their eyes lit-up.

They turned to look at each other and seemed to have a silent conversation before they both nodded and faced Harry again.

"We would very much like one each if your okay with it, one scoop is fine though. We don't need two," they seemed to speak at the same time.

Harry smiled, "Tell Mr," Harry glanced at the ice-cream man's name, "Fortescue what you would like then." So the twins ordered a scoop Jelly Slug ice-cream each, which Harry happily paid the 2 sickles and 6 knuts for the two ice-creams, before the three boys made their way over to a booth, the twins little brother 'Ronniekins', having already run off somewhere.

"Thank you Harry–" the twin on the left in front of him started.

"You didn't have to buy us these–" The one on the right continued.

"And we have forgotten to introduce our selves,–" Harry's head was turning left and right again.

"He's Fred–" the one on the left named the one on the right,

"And he's George Weasley." Fred finished for them.

"Well it's nice to meet you Fred and George, and it okay. I can't say I can do it often but you were kind to me and apologised for you brother. So it only seemed right that I thank you in kind." Harry explained to the two twins while he enjoyed one of the few ice-creams he has ever had.

"So how old are you? I'm six, although I'll be seven really soon" Harry announce with a grin, his curiosity peeked.

The twins grinned, "We're nine! And in two more years we'll finally get to go to Hogwarts!" they cheered with excitement as they finished their ice-creams. Suddenly they both got a look of dread on their faces.

"Thank you again for the ice-cream but we really have to go!" Fred said suddenly look somewhat pale.

"We'll owl you if you like! Our brat of a brother Ron must have told on us again. Although for what, I wouldn't know." George explained with a similar colourless face, before they both ran out the door.

Out the window Harry could see a short, plump woman screaming at the twins so loudly that you could hear ever word though out the whole street as she chewed them out about abandoning their little brother. You could tell she was their mother though by the same fiery red hair, even if she did have bright brown eyes and a fair completion. Although if you were to ask Harry, he would tell you that she looked more like a sabre-tooth tiger with how angry she was. It wasn't long though before she had them each by an ear each as she dragged them back towards the Leaky Cauldron, a smirking Ron following behind them.

So having finished his ice-cream and potentially making two friends, Harry made his way to his next destination for the day, the Daily Prophet's main office; magical Britain's newspaper and made a yearly subscription to be delivered to him daily by owl for 12 sickles and 17 knuts or 1 knut for every paper delivered. Followed by Scribbulus Writing Implements where he acquired a 'Standard copy book'; which is a charmed book to help children or muggle-borns learn to write with a quill and ink so that their writing wasn't messy and they didn't get blotches of ink on their writing, he also brought several quills, packets of parchment, envelopes and bottles of black ink for 7 galleons and 5 knuts.

Harry then went to Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop, to see if there was anything he could use that wouldn't risk the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy in the muggle world. Harry ended up buying several dungbombs, hiccough sweets, bars of frog spawn soap, itching powder and a nose-biting teacup to use on the more 'annoying' muggles at the orphanage for 2 galleons and 14 sickles, before he decided to have lunch for the day before heading back to the orphanage.

It was while Harry was sitting in a small cosy teashop called Rosa Lee Teabag that Harry met a third interesting person. She just happened to trip as she was looking for a table and knocked Harry's pumpkin juice all over the table.

"I'm so sorry! I'm such a cluts! Always tripping over nothing!" the young teenage girl who had shoulder-length bubble gum pink hair and dark blue eyes, began to apologise profusely as she helped to clean up the mess. Harry hardly got a word in over her constant apologies and then suddenly she was gone and had came back with a new glass of pumpkin juice for Harry.

"It's okay," Harry was finally able to say, when the girl came back, "And thank you. You didn't have to buy me a new drink after helping clean up the mess. I was just about to order some lunch and I noticed you had been looking for a place to sit before you tripped. Would you like share the table with me? I don't mind," And Harry wouldn't, he was normally forced to eat alone at the orphanage and he had children he played with at school but he wouldn't really call them friends because they were still so different from him.

"Of course I had to buy you a new one, I spilt you last one didn't I? And thank you, I'd love to. Plus it seems to be really full here today," The young girl sat down in the seat across from Harry, "I'm Tonks by the way. Well Nymphadora Tonks really but I hate my first name. My mother was a Black but she married a muggle-born and named me Nymphadora to break the tradition of always naming a Black after star constellations. I sometimes wonder what I might have been named if she hadn't though…" suddenly she seemed to stop speaking and her face had taken a pink tinge again, "Sorry, I'm talking too much again…" she trailed off embarrassed.

Harry smiled softly, "That's okay and I'm Harry and if you don't like your name but would rather not go by your last name, why not take up a nickname?" Harry suggested.

Tonks eyes lit up with interest, "I hadn't thought of that but I always thought a nickname was something given to you by someone else like a friend, so I guess it just never occurred to me." She explained in thought.

"Well if it must come from a friend then let's try this again," Harry said standing up and walking to Tonks side. "Hi, my names Harry and I'll be 7 soon. I wouldn't mind being your friend," Harry held out his hand.

Tonks looked at him for a second before she smiled, while holding in a small laugh, even though a giggle escaped, "Hello Harry, my name is Nymphadora Tonks and I turned 14 on the 3rd of April," she held out her hand to shake Harry's but he instead surprised her by bending over and kissing the back of her hand, causing many of the customers at other tables to giggle or chuckle at the image and all the woman to cooed at how cute Harry was.

Harry straitened up, "It is an honour to make your acquaintance Nymphadora. Would it be alright with you if I call you Norma, after the stars?" He asked, not really seeing how this scene could be taken if he were older, "Norma is the only constellation I know of that began with an 'N' like Nymphadora," Harry explained his reasoning.

Nymphadora didn't know whether to feel embarrassed by the scene or to coo with the other woman at how cute Harry was being. In the end she seemed to settle for a bit of both and couldn't help but giggle, "I love the name Norma, thank you Harry. Now how about we order our lunch," she said while still stifling giggles and so Harry made his third friend that day and enjoyed a lovely lunch with Norma. Who then proceed to take Harry to Quality Quidditch Supplies where she brought him a copy of 'Quidditch Though the Ages' and said that it was a thank you present and that he could take it as an early birthday present if it made him feel better. Though Harry couldn't help but think it had more to do with how little he knew about the sport.

They also went to Sugarplum's Sweet Shop where Harry brought ten Chocolate Frogs, two boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, two Droobles Best Blowing Gum, two Pumpkin Pasties, two Cauldron Cakes and two Liquorice Wands 9 galleons and 9 sickles. At the time there was a boy there named Derek; he was a year older then Harry with dark brown hair and eyes and pale skin. He had opened a chocolate frog only to sigh in annoyance when he got a chocolate frog card that he already had so he just gave it to Harry. It was about a wizard called 'Justus Pilliwickle'.

_JUSTUS PILLIWICKLE_

_(1862-1953)_

'_He worked for the Ministry of Magic and was a celebrated Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.'_

This of course prompted Norma to get Harry a Folio Universitas - a large purple and gold folder with which he could store his collection of Famous Wizard Cards and a Folio Triplicus - which was a miniature green and gold one that was used to store a small handful of cards for when you were out or just to store them safely until you could put them into the Folio Universitas.

Norma and Harry then parted ways with Norma forcing a promise from Harry to keep in touch. Harry then caught a bus back. Hopping off a few streets from the orphanage, he walked the rest of the way and quickly made his way to his room where he stored all of the items away. Books on the bookshelf, sweets in his bedside table and pranking items in a box in his wardrobe, along with cloaks and robes.

"**Harry, how was your day?" **Elfrida asked from her spot on Harry's bed as she uncurled herself.

"**It was great Elfrida, it was everything and more!"** Harry all but shouted in excitement and joy.** "I got so many books and other things and I made three friends! Fred and George Weasley, they are identical twins, they come from a really big family but are poor because of it. I don't think I like their little brother Ron though and their mother seems really controlling and plays favourites with her children or it would seem. I also met an older girl named ****Nymphadora Tonks; I call her Norma though because she doesn't like her name. She's really nice and a**** metamorphmagus,**** which means she can change her appearance however she likes. I spent quite a bit too, I started out with 160 galleons,**** 5 sickles and 2 knuts and now I only have ****105 galleons, 10 sickles and 17 knuts.****"** Harry went on about is day as Elfrida listened and ask questions.

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><p>- I made up the new Nimbus 1900 to fill in the space<p>

- I made Talia Gianni up when I couldn't find any particular shop keeper know to run the second-hand robe shop. I decided that it would be a woman because the Wizardry world is still backwards in many ways and while woman can have jobs, I image some things like cloths shops to be considered something that only woman do. I got the name from the fact that Thomas Gianni was at the bottom of the second-hand shop trading card. And Talia comes from the same culture as Thomas according to a babies name site I used.

- She doesn't think Harry is the Harry Potter because there are now several children that have been named after Harry, because f his hero status and she didn't see the scar hidden under his fringe.

- Black and green robe, think of Snape's robes from the TWT; when they are in study hall, slightly.

- The reason I made the total so cheap is because in the chamber of secrets you find out the Weasley family only have 1 gallon and a few sickles to their name but yet they are able to afford Hogwarts and not starve to death? I still can't figure that out; less they are stealing from say Harry? Although I do imagine they have a mini farm on their land or something to eat so much. But based on that I tried to make the prices seem reasonable and while I imagine the Weasleys' have more than a gallon to their name I don't think it will be much more. I imagine to make up for the cheaper price though that if you are buying thing new they would cost more than a galleon or 2.

- I am aware that in the ancient star constellations there was is also Noctua and Nubecula Major and Nubecula Minor but for the sake of it, I'll just say that Harry has only read about the Morden day one as of yet because I have no idea how good Noctua or Nubecula sounds as a name and I can't seem to imagine it either, where as Norma has been used as a name in the past.

So now Harry has entered the wizardry world for the first time. I went on for a bit about prices, only because I wanted it to be made clear that the wizardry world really isn't cheap. Which again brings me to question how in the world the Weasleys' survived as much as they did….? I can't help but think that they should have looked so much poorer and maybe even a little under weight?

Anyways, I could have gone on but not only did I want to put this up but I was really getting bored of this chapter. Not to mention I wasn't even going to add the twins or tonks to latter but I didn't know when and this just happened. I do hope I got most of the mistakes if there are any, because I do admit that I haven't checked this chapter have as much as I normally seem to.


	6. Chapter Five

So here is another chapter, I have only really got it done this quick because I used the heritage test from 'Out of the Night' and that made up quite a bit of it. Not something I plan to do often if at all. I have not spell checked this or anything else and will surly do so future but to end my own impatience, I'll post it now and check it over another time. Due hope it not too bad, its 6 am, my sleep pattern really sucks right now and I'm meant to try and get up in about another 2 hours. Yay me.

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><p><span><strong>Chapter Five<strong>

By the next day Harry had already read a small bit of one of the wizardry law but they were clearly By the next day Harry had already read a small bit of one of the wizardry law books but they were clearly meant for someone of a much older deposition. Still one was able to see that he had read almost one quarter of the book which now lay on the corner of his bedside table, disregarded by a tired little boy who lay curled up under his covers asleep, his pet snake Elfrida by his side.

The early raise of sunlight slowly filtered though the curtain-less windows, making young Harry's eyelids twitch and roll over in his sleep in order to avoid the light and sleep more. Suddenly there was a pecking sound at the window and Harry's eyes flickered open as he bemoaned at having been woken up, when he had stayed up later than usual reading the night before.

"**Make it shut up…"** Elfrida groaned, still half-asleep, as she used her tail to cover her eyes and keep the light out.

He slowly sat up as the pecking at the window continued and was greeted to the sight of an owl pecking at his bedside window. He groaned, 'Of course the Daily Prophet' he thought to himself as he opened his window and thanked the owl for the paper.

* * *

><p>One week of the school holiday pasted with Harry spending most of his time in his room reading, he would have liked to have read out under a tree but the title would have drawn too much attention. Not to mention either the staff or children would ask where he got them and Mrs Ranch would drag him to the church again. Speaking of Mrs Ranch, Harry had already used the biting tea cup on her once already. He did it at night when she was a little drunk of course but, but still it was funny to watch. She ended up screaming and waking at least half if not all the children and staff, a few were even stupid enough to get out of bed and find out what was wrong. Harry used the time to switch the tea cups and sneak back to his room where he and Elfrida laughed themselves silly. Mrs Ranch moaned about a sore nose for the next two days and some of the staff where still looking at her funny.<p>

It was also during this week though that Harry had found out that he was a household name and famous for something he didn't even remember, well not really. It did explain the odd nightmares about a green light and chilling laughter though. Not to mention it likely also had something to do with the recurring dreams about a flying motorbike. It also explained the Harry Potter book series - although that truly pissed him off, because as he understood it, these people were most likely using his name for money without his permission. Not that he knew how to fix it right now. Worst of all was how they seemed to think he was living his life right now. Most seemed to think he was living in a castle and being treated like a prince. Truly it pissed him off and made him really want to change his name, because there was no way he wanted to be Harry Potter. He was also thankful now that he hadn't been discovered while he was there last week.

This was also why yesterday he has spent some of the day in an upper-class part of town and had gather another 400 pounds and was now on a bus 88 back to the Leaky Cauldron. In his backpack were his blue robes and summer cloak - to put on once in the pub and his money pouch, with 105 galleons, 10 sickles and 17 knuts and the roll muggle of money.

The bus soon arrived and he made his way quickly to the pub; which being close to lunch time was a lot more crowed then last week when he came. He quickly made his way to a bathroom on the second floor of the pub to change, before he made his way back down just as quickly and went through to Diagon Alley.

With his head down this time and his hood up, he made his way as quickly as possible, without drawing attention to himself, to Gringotts. Nodding in respect to the two goblins that guard the doors, he quickly made his way up the steps and though the doors.

Much like the leaky Cauldron, Gringotts proved to be much fuller then when he was last there. So with nothing else to do, he waited in line until it was his turn. Soon enough he was standing before free Goblin.

"Yes?" The goblin grunted as he leaned over his bench to peer down at Harry.

"Please Sir, I wish to exchange this," he held up the roll of 400 muggle pounds for the goblin to take, "to wizardry money, but I also wish to see someone about personal business," Not wishing to say why, Harry took a guess and moving his hood back slightly, he moved his bang ever so slightly to show his lightning-bolt scar he was apparently so renowned for. The goblins eyebrow raised slightly in question, as an almost predatory smirk crept across its face. He reach down and took the money, counting it quickly, it then exchange the money for 80 galleons, 2 sickles, 2 knuts, which the goblin quickly put into Harry's coin pouch that Harry had passed up, giving Harry a total of 185 galleons, 12 sickles and 19 knuts.

Money exchange, the goblin quickly called another goblin over, as they talked in quick, hush tones, every now and then glancing at Harry. Finely the goblin that had served him spoke.

"Griphook will lead to a secure office Young Sir." The goblin said with a wide grin, showing all it sharp teeth and causing several people behind Harry to take a step or two back.

Harry simply nodded, "Thank you Sir," he then preceded to follow the goblin named Griphook behind the counters and though a door that was slightly hidden in the shadows and down a set of winding and twisting hallways, until Harry was certain he would get lost long ago on his own, and finally Griphook stopped at a door with no particular feature about it to tell it apart from all the others they had pasted and knocked twice on the door before a voice boomed from the other side telling them to enter.

The room they entered into was not practically fancy; the walls seemed to be made of a dark carved out stone, while the floor was white marble like the entrance and the rest of the halls they had walked down. There was however, a large two handed axe on the left wall and a long sword and shield on the right, within easy reach to be taken down and used. There was filing cablets along the back wall, with the exception of a door in the far left corner and in front of Harry was a large dark wooden desk and some comfortable leather chairs in front of it and one behind, which had a much older and war-weary looking Goblin sitting in it.

"You wished to see someone about person business child and claim by your scar that you are 'the Harry Potter'. What proofs have you? You are not the first and nor will you be the last to try and make that claim." The goblin spoke with a bored tone, as the door shut behind Harry who still stood in the middle of the room.

Harry thought for a second before he answered, "I have no proof Sir Goblin. I came across a letter by chance over a year ago. I have since then spent a year studying any subject in the muggle world that looked like it may have traces from the magical world. One week ago, I finally came to see the Wizardry world for the first time with my own eyes. While in Diagon Alley, I acquired several books on History and Laws to learn more about the world. It was while reading the history books that I discovered what my name apparently means to this world, or at least to the witches and wizards in it. If you have a way to identify me for who I say I am, I would be more than happy to comply to prove my claim to you." Harry explained himself as he stared up at the goblin.

The goblin nodded and grunted in some sort of agreement, "Have a seat then Mr Potter, assuming you are who you say you are," The goblin spoke as it pulled a sheet of parchment and an intricate, thin silver blade out of a draw in one of the filing cablets behind it and placed the item on the desk in front of Harry, who was now seat in one of the two free chairs.

"If you still wish to prove who you say you are, take this blade and make a cut on your hand and allow the blood to spill onto this parchment, it will us both who you are and if you hold any accounts here at Gringotts," The goblin explained with a glint I its eyes.

So with nothing to lose, Harry picked up the blade and made a small cut across his left pointer finger and watched as the blood fell out onto the paper. After the seventh drop, the cut seemed to knit itself back together as if the wound was never there. While the blood on the parchment sank into the paper and vanished before it black ink appeared and began to move across the page forming words.

**BLOOD TEST OF:**

**HARRY JAMES POTTER**

Born: 31 of July, 1980 at the hour of midnight

**Father:** James Charlus Potter

Born: 27 of March 1960 at 11 in the morning

Death: 31 of October 1981, 10 o'clock at night

**Mother:** Lily Rose Potter nee Evans

Born: 30 of January 1960 at quarter past 3 in the morning

Death: 31 of October 1981, 10 minutes past 10 at night

**Godfather:** Sirius Black

Born: 23 of September, 1959

**Godmother:** Alice Longbottom nee Travers

Born: 18 of April, 1960

**Heir to:**

The Potter Family by blood

The Black Family, chosen by the current Lord Sirius Black with the stipulation that should Lord Black have a child that the child becomes the heir.

To say the goblin was shocked would be an understatement, although he quickly covered it up. Mean while Harry was staring at the part where it mentioned that he had godparents, godparents that he had never met. At first this realisation made him mad. Angry that they had abandoned him and weren't there when he need them but that soon vanished when he realised that in all likely hood the only reason that he likely wasn't with them is because he couldn't be. But then that made him wonder why.

Finally the goblin before him cleared his throat, "Well then Mr Potter I must apologies for my behaviour but you must understand that over the last six years we have had many parents send their children come in claiming to be you in hopes of getting the Potter fortune. Please, allow me to introduce myself, I am Bloodtooth. How may I help you today Mr Potter?" Bloodtooth asked.

"Before I start, do you know why I was never given to my godparent to be raised?" Harry asked with calm curiosity.

"You never ended up with either of them because on the night of your parents' deaths, your godfather Sirius Black was put in Azkaban prison without a trial for betraying your family to the Dark Lord Voldemort. Unfortunately, that very same night your godmother Alice Longbottom and her husband Frank Longbottom were torture into insanity by a group of Death Eaters." Harry couldn't help but feel disappointed at hearing this but tried not to let it get to him, "As to where you ended up, well no-body except for Albus Dumbledore knows," This made Harry perk up. After all, Tom had warned him in the letter about Dumbledore, "Not even your half-yearly bank statements from Gringotts have ever reached you." Bloodtooth explained.

"I have bank statements, no wait don't answer that. I'll come back to that later," Harry hurried to say as Bloodtooth was about to speak, "Even before I learned about the fact that I am not a muggle-born from the history book, but a half-blood I had intended to come to Gringotts at some point and ask to have a inheritance test. So that I might see where my family comes from on both my mother and father side, so might I ask how I go about doing that? I know that I am a Potter now but I would still like to see my family tree and where I come from." Harry asked in curiosity. "I also want to know about changing my name. It would be better if I could be someone completely different from Harry Potter I think."

"While I admit we haven't been requested to do one in many years that can be arranged if you are interested. It will cost 100 galleons though," Bloodtooth explained.

"How is the test done?" Harry asked, not caring about the price because he wanted to know.

"Utilising samples of a wizard's blood, we are able to determine their heritage up to sixteen generations back. We then maintain records of these heritages for future use. Pureblood families trust our records more than those that are available at the Ministry. They occasionally come to us before finalizing marriage contracts."

"Okay, would I have to wait to do it, or could I have one done now?"

"It can be arranged now if you a sure" Bloodtooth asked as he began to write a latter which then banished.

"I would like that, thank you," Bloodtooth nodded his head.

"This way then Mr Potter," Bloodtooth led Harry though the halls until they came to another room which they entered after a quick knock.

The room they entered was bear except for some comfortable chairs and a table. They were met by two goblins in pale blue lab coats.

"Mr Potter this is Knacklebrat and Cursentog, they will be doing the inheritance test today," With that Bloodtooth sat down in one of the available chairs to wait.

"Mr Potter, to prepare for the procedure we require that you take off your cloak, robes, and shirt," The one labelled as Knacklebrat said.

So Harry while still a little unsure; proceeded to take of his clothes until he was standing in nothing but his shoes and pants.

"If I may ask, what exactly are you going to do with those metal instruments?" Harry asked placatingly. "Just know the basics would be fine."

"Heritage testing is based on blood and magic. We will be cutting you to draw blood at several key points in the spinal and abdominal regions to ensure the most accurate reading." Cursentog explained.

"Then what?" Harry felt the need to ask.

"Then we will conduct the test on the blood samples using a variety of highly guarded spells and potions. At the conclusion of the test, if any significant heritages are discovered, we will show you how to go about claiming them, as well as be able to show you a copy of your family trees, as you requested of Bloodtooth." Knacklebrat explained while fiddling with something.

"Claiming them? Heritages? I thought that this was just to see the family tree?" Harry asked now confused.

"You didn't explain Bloodtooth?" Cursentog cursed.

"I apologise, it must have slipped my mind." Bloodtooth explained. "What I forgot to mention Mr Potter was that a heritage testing can be used to see if you have any other family you could claim. It's not about money or anything of that nature, Mr. Potter. Some wizarding family lines must be…properly acknowledged…if an heir wishes to gain the benefits of blood and magic offered by association with that family. Now please take a seat so we may begin."

After it was over, Harry reflected that it wasn't so bad. It was weird to be standing in the middle of a room half naked, while goblins carefully cut lines into his flesh and caught the blood in little silver bowls, but it could have been worse. It hurt a little, but they healed each cut carefully after they had finished and forced Harry to sit back down and drink a cup of pumpkin juice while he waited for the results.

"We've got one," said Cursentog after nearly an hour of studying the blood.

"Really?" asked Knacklebrat, his eyes widening. "Which family?"

"Peverell."

"Ah," said Knacklebrat, "That's not going to do him much good. Is there anything else?"

"No, just the expected. It's a bit purer than I anticipated. His mother must have had some magic in the bloodline but we are still waiting for the trees to finish."

Harry had been nearly dozing in the comfortable wingback chair the goblins had provided, but now he was wide awake. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Cursentog began packing up his equipment as Knacklebrat turned to Harry. "It means that if you wanted to do so you could claim membership into the Peverell family. However, I doubt that you would want to."

"I've never heard of them," said Harry.

"They were fairly well-to-do until the last heir died in the mid-18th century. There are some quite charming fairytales associated with them in a book called 'The Tales of Beedle and the Bard'. Gringotts does not maintain a Peverell vault, but we do have a standard heritage acceptance potion and a signet ring in storage for any claimants."

"So, I'm related to them…the Peverells? What would happen if I took the potion?"

Knacklebrat stroked his pointy chin as he considered the question. "Heritages are tricky things," he said. "No wizard reacts in an entirely predictable way to accepting one. Normally, it's nothing very special…an increase in some minor talents, maybe even a sudden interest in a field of study that was previously uninteresting. The Peverells, for example, were noted for their exceptional night vision. That's the sort of attribute that would normally bleed over. It's quite a strong relation too," he said as he looked over the parchment Cursentog had handed him, "so you would likely get a little more out of it than most. But, it's a moot point for you, Mr. Potter."

"Why?"

"Because, Mr Potter, the Peverell family was traditionally a Dark family. The heritage would be a Dark heritage."

Harry's mind seemed to go into overdrive. Dark. His heritage, if he accepted it, would be Dark. What did that mean? People weren't born Dark wizards were they? Wasn't it a matter of choice? Obviously, the goblins expected him to refuse the inheritance because of it, so there must be more to it than that.

"I'm sorry," said Harry. "I don't understand. What do you mean the heritage is Dark? What would happen to me if I accepted it?"

Knacklebrat's look was calculating. "I don't know exactly," he admitted after several seconds of contemplation. "Most non-Dark wizards wouldn't accept a Dark heritage. The combination might be rather volatile."

"Dark wizards aren't like other wizards, Mr Potter," Cursentog said as he looked up from the bowls he was cleaning. "I don't mean that horseshit that the Ministry spouts off about good and evil and all that rot. I mean at the most basic level. They've got a fundamentally different understanding about how wizards ought to interact with magic. Not to mention that their magic is more suited to the heaver magic, which most call Dark, it is like the different between a man with strong muscles and a developing boy, the man will be able to do more powerful things."

Knacklebrat nodded in agreement. "Dark wizardry is steeped in traditions that have been left behind by most wizards in these times. Families pass down these customs. They train their children to use their magic in a certain way, until eventually children born into those families are much more inclined to perceive magic in a uniquely Dark manner."

This was fascinating. Harry had never learned any of this before, and he had a feeling that the goblins were being more honest about the differences between the two types of wizards than anyone else ever would be. "So people are…born Dark?" he asked.

The goblins seemed to confer silently with one another for awhile. "To an extent," said Knacklebrat eventually. "It would be very difficult for someone from a truly Dark family to turn away from that heritage, very unnatural for them. But one doesn't _have_ to be born into one of the families in order to be Dark. A person can choose to follow the traditions and the way of magic on their own. It's just…uncommon."

Cursentog grunted. "More like unheard of," he said.

"So I could accept the heritage and still choose for myself couldn't I? I mean from what I've read and what you're saying, it sounds like the definition of Dark is just your type of magic, whereas most wizards today, sound as if they see Dark as meaning evil." Harry asked.

"True but why would you want to risk a magical imbalance like that, Mr Potter?" asked Knacklebrat. "The Potter heritage is extremely anti-Dark. The two magics, the two bloods…they would never mesh properly."

"It might work," said Cursentog, a fierce gleam in his eyes.

"It would be far too dangerous for us to recommend…"

"Come now, Knacklebrat, you know you're just as curious as I am. Ideally, you would develop a sort of double persona, Mr Potter. You might be able to shift between the two heritages at will, retaining your same mind and soul but developing an understanding for both types of magic."

"The duality would never last," Knacklebrat argued. "He would eventually develop a strong leaning toward one type of magic. One can't straddle that particular fence for very long."

"Yes, of course," said the other. "But, he might be able to maintain the weaker heritage as a kind of veneer to cover the stronger one if he needed to. Just think of the possibilities!"

Harry's head was spinning as he watched the two of them argue. A "double persona" they said. He was apparently no Dark wizard, but he was curious. He would have the opportunity to learn more about the apparent division between Dark and Light. And…some rebellious part of Harry wanted to do this thing that he knew would horrify everyone in the wizardry world. He knew it was dangerous, but he wanted it anyway. Taking the heritage wouldn't _make_ him Dark or should he say evil, after all.

Even disregarding the issue of Dark and Light, the Peverell heritage was something that was already a part of him, just waiting to be awoken. It was his, and the thought of leaving something about himself locked deep within him disturbed him. He looked up to the two goblins who were now babbling in Gobbledegook. Well, he thought, "I want to do it," he said firmly.

The goblins stopped arguing and all three turned to look at him. "I want to claim the heritage. It will make me someone else right and that is what I want. From what I've read the wizardry world already has a perceived idea about who 'Harry Potter' is and I'm not him, not as they think 'he' is."

"If you're sure Mr Potter, we will first need to have you checked for anything that could interfere with the procedure but for now, it would seem that the two Potter and Evens family trees have finished. So why don't you look at those while we organise things." Bloodtooth finally spoke, while the other two goblins got over their mild shock.

The trees as it turned out went back sixteen generations each like Bloodtooth had said they would. But the biggest shock was when he saw the name 'Wilkes' on his mother side. You see for every name that was a wizard it would come up black and every name that was not a wizard but a squib came up grey, and muggles seemed to come up red, so as it would seem, Harry's mother had some from a long line of squibs from a family called the Wilkes.

This changed everything about how Harry was gradually seeing the wizardry world. They were so wrong about things and they didn't even know it or perhaps didn't want to accept it. Harry decided then that you are only a muggle-born if you have a muggle parent, but Harry's mother didn't just come from one line of squibs but two, not that he could see any further back then his grandmother on her side but still. Sure there were some muggles mixed in on his grandfather side, but shockingly, not that many from when the line became squibs only five generations back. So in Harry's eyes that made him a pureblood, not a half-blood; sure they were squibs but they still came from being wizards.

As it were, in the time it took Harry to think about it all, the goblins had all that they needed and so they ran more tests, which came up with some shocking results and not for any reason that any in the room expected.

"A horcrux! A human horcrux!" Knacklebrat all but bellowed in horror. "This is unheard of!"

"We must get it out," Cursentog said after he finished curing in Gobbledegook.

"Excuse me, but what is a horcrux and what does it have to do with me?" Harry asked.

Bloodtooth who had been pacing in horror while cursing under his breath stopped to face Harry. "A horcrux is created when someone kills something else; in the process they split their soul and then pull that broken part off and put it into something else." He cursed under his breath again.

"In ancient times, long before the dark wizard know as Herpo the Foul." He spat the name out, "The same method that is now called extremely dark and evil was used as a medical healing process for those who had developed a split personality or more. They would scarifies an animal of some sort to help split the soul, then temporarily store it into an item that would become the horcrux, before they would either destroy it, if the split personality was in any way bad or go about the process of making the other personality a body so that they could be their own person. After which the remaining soul pieces would have to be healed in order to be whole again. They would do this by starting with feeling remorse for the kill. As they are each their own person now, the two souls would remain separate and not merge back together. It was only after Herpo the Foul that it became considered dark, or even that you had to kill another human to do so." Bloodtooth explained the long winded history of horcruxs.

"And you can take to guess as to whos piece of soul is in that scar on your forehead." Cursentog added seething.

Harry's eyes widened, "Lord Voldemort?" he asked softly, hoping against hope.

"Got it in one, but don't worry Mr Potter we can get it out without hurting you," Knacklebrat said, soothing Harry's fears.

* * *

><p>In the short order, they led Harry to middle of a circular marble rune inlaid into the floor of Ritual Room 1, deep in the bowels of Gringotts. Here, they first had Harry lay down on his back, as they chanted and weaved spells and very slowly and slightly painfully - like a game of tug-of-wars - extracted the piece of soul from Harry's forehead which then completely healed over as though it was never there. They stored the piece of soul in an orb and promised to have it destroyed later.<p>

After a short break they then had, Harry was kneeling in the middle of the room. The acceptance potion, which looked like water to Harry, was in a crystal goblet on the floor in front of him. A parchment with a written version of the Peverell family acknowledgment lay beside it. At the goblins' instruction, Harry drank the potion and recited the acknowledgment:

**I, Harry James Potter, claim the heritage of the Peverell family. I accept the heritage in blood, in memory, and in magic. I will take the name Peverell as one of my own, never to bring it shame. I am of the Peverell line, and this is my right.**

Harry felt warm all over, as though he had suddenly been immersed in a hot bath. Something unidentifiable was sweeping through him, altering him in small ways; and although he thought this should frighten him, he felt good. Alert and peaceful at the same time. After a couple of minutes, the bathtub sensation faded, and Harry stood up.

"Well," said Cursentog in satisfaction. "It didn't kill him."

They gave him a small box which they said held the Peverell family signet ring and a stack of papers which were the certified copies of his blood records. "Don't put the ring on until tomorrow night," advised Knacklebrat. "It would be bad form. It usually takes twenty-four hours for the potion to do everything it's going to do, so you won't be a full Peverell until then. Should any other claimants to the line show up…"

"That's not likely," Cursentog interrupted.

"But if they do," said Knacklebrat, "You'll be expected to donate your blood for the creation of another heritage acceptance potion. You will remain the main Peverell heir with whatever that might entail, but other heirs will still be able to share in the family name and magics if they choose."

"Alright," said Harry. He began to gather his things together. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"Not really. As I said, the heritage will be in full force by this time tomorrow night, but it's already active now. If you _have _achieved a split heritage, you should be able to make some changes in your appearance or casting just by shifting your mental perception of yourself."

"What?"

"If you feel more like you're a Potter, then that heritage will come to the forefront. If you feel more like a Peverell, then that one will. The differences between the two will be slight. It's really quite simple."

Cursentog cleared his throat. "Who should I list you as for record keeping purposes?" Seeing Harry's blank look, he clarified, "Your name. Traditionally, you would call yourself Harry James Peverell-Potter, but given the unprecedented nature of your situation and the fact that you yourself stated you do not wish to be 'Harry Potter', choosing a separate name for the Peverell family would be advisable. What would you like to call yourself?"

"Greek or Roman names and their derivatives would be best, Mr Potter," added Knacklebrat. "Those are the most common in pureblood circles."

"Ummm…" Harry muttered. 'A new name?' he thought to himself. 'I would like to stick with the same initials but what do I want?' he asked himself, "Hephaestus," he said at last, "After the Greek god of fire metalworking, stone masonry, and art of sculpture, because I want to change this world in the future and Judum from the Latin word judicium meaning trial, legal, investigation, judgement, or decision," He nodded to himself, "I'll be Hephaestus Judum Peverell." He finally finished, feeling quite proud of himself.

"Thank you for your time Cursentog, Knacklebrat. We have much to do now if you want a separate identify Mr Peverell," Bloodtooth said taking command. Harry or Hephaestus nodded as he finally put his shirt and robes back on but left his cloak I his bag.

* * *

><p>In Dumbledore's office in Hogwarts, the Book of Names lay open as always, but what no one was there to see or would notice for a few years yet was that that the name Harry Potter had vanished and in its place was the name Hephaestus Peverell. Not that they would have seen yet anyways, as the pages are still open to the names of children due to come this coming September.<p>

Back in his office Bloodtooth helped Harry to create a separate identity. Hephaestus Judum Peverell was born on the 1 of August, 1980 to Dionysus Keane and Calla Agnes Peverell nee Wilkes at 1 in the morning at St Mungo's Hospital. Copies of the birth certificate were made and sent out and to the Hospital, and Ministry, as well as a copy to be kept at Gringotts and finally one for Harry to keep.

Unfortunately both of Hephaestus's parents died almost one year later while being caught in the cross-fire of a battle at Diagon Alley with Death Eaters and so of course copies of their death certificates had to be created, not to mention their birth certifies. His father Dionysus was home schooled. While his mother Calla went to the French school Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. So of cause they were not that very well known.

With falsified papers and documents out of the way, Bloodtooth finally brought out a stack of papers.

"These are every Potter bank statement since your parents were killed and even some before," Bloodtooth began to explain as Harry looked though the papers. "Gringotts deals with every aspect of Wizarding wealth. This includes but is not limited to: savings accounts, trust funds, old family vaults, stock options, inheritance verification, special items protection, currency exchange, and blood records."

The young wizard pondered this list he read more and more of the back statements and business deals.

"In the past the Potters accounts like many of the Purebloods were worth hundreds of galleons. Charles Potter, your grandfather was a very good businessman and knew how to make profit. However when your father James became Lord of the family during the war, he stopped taking care of any business or stocks the Potters owned and began to use large sums of the money for an organisation called 'the Order of the Phoenix' which was run by Albus Dumbledore to counter the Death Eaters. He later gave Dumbledore direct access to the family vault, but only to use the money. However after your parents died, the amount of money being taken didn't stop, in fact it increased astronomically. With no one to argue it because you parents were dead and your godparents otherwise unable to. Albus Dumbledore listed himself as you unofficial magical guardian and has since been taking money yearly for both himself and to give some to a family called the Weasleys. Currently the Potter fortune is worth approximately 25,000 galleons," said Bloodtooth. Seeing Harry open his mouth to either ask a question or something else, he added, "As he is not Harry Potter's legal magical guardian and Hephaestus Peverell does not have a magical guardian but is a ward of the ministry. We can stop him from taking any more if you give me the word to." Bloodtooth said with a very toothy grin.

"Do it! They have no right to take my money!" Harry felt like for once in his life he was truly ready to throw a tantrum like the child he is, "Can we get the money back?" he asked, seething.

"Unfortunately because of your fathers last order before he died was to give Dumbledore access to the accounts and then him making himself your magical guardian - so long as no one either stepped in or objected, no. We are not able to reclaim the stolen money," Bloodtooth growled. "We were however able to stop him from taking any heirlooms or other items that were left in the family vault after your father's death."

Harry was beyond fuming, he had been stolen from and there was nothing that could be done about it. He truly wanted to break something but knew it would do nothing good so he took a deep breath and slowly calmed himself down.

"Bloodtooth, does the Potters have any sort of account manager?" Harry finally asked.

"No, again not since your father's death," Bloodtooth answered, sounding vaguely sour about it.

"Could I make you my account manager then? That is if you accept?" Harry asked as he thought about things.

Bloodtooths eyes widened for a fraction of a second, "I would be honoured to manage your accounts," he finally answered.

"Then the position is yours, I'm six almost seven years old. I freely admit I don't know the first thing about managing money and how to invest it wisely. Of the 25,000 galleons, I would like for you, Bloodtooth, to take 5,000 and invest it in anything that you think will gain large profits," Harry ordered, "I trust you make the best choices."

Bloodtooth grinned as he wrote something down, "It will be done," was his simple answer still writing things down.

"I also want a new account opened under Peverell and have everything I own transferred to the new vault. Just how many vaults do I have anyways?" Harry suddenly asked.

"You have the main Potter Vault and a trust-fund that was created for you when you were born but as the last Potter you are able to manage them now. You cannot however enter the main vault until you are considered an adult."

"Then keep the trust fund but put it under my new name and in a new vault as well so that only I will have the keys." Harry decided.

Papers were signed and money was exchanged and in the end Harry let the bank with two new vaults, a new identity, a new account manager and ally and two keys he put in with his money so as not to lose them. The day felt far longer than it had really been so far.

Harry also learned that the Potter family manor had been burned down during the war and almost everything in it lost and that the only other property the Potters had owned was a cottage in Godrics Hollow which was in shambles. And any businesses the Potters had owned either went bust under his father's care or were sold. It was easy to say there for that he was fuming. He fell like he had been wronged on so many levels. He didn't even bother to get something to eat, just caught the next bus 'home'.

* * *

><p>- Most of the part to do with the heritage test and the ritual comes directly from 'Out Of the Night'. I did say that this story is based off of it, so yes there might be bits here and there, though I hope, few and far between that I mostly copy as it is just easier than trying to re-write it.<p>

- If you have read 'Out of the night' you will know that the name Hephaestus was used for Harry in it but that is not why I chose the name. I vaguely remember when I first started this story that I spent quite a bit of time looking up different names and means but in the end, I always came back to Hephaestus both because it started with H and because of the gods meaning. So it has nothing to do with 'Out of the Night', it just happened to be the same name.

- Dionysus is the Greek god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy which to some degree makes me thing of James and his love of pranks and fun and stuff. Keane – Irish, Gaelic and Old English meaning fighter; sharp, keen wit or eye.

Changed Agapanthus to Calla; it is a variant of the name Lily from Greek meaning beautiful and also comes from the name of the Calla Lily flower. Agnes – Greek meaning good, pure

Yay, Harry now has a new identity coming in to play. I think I really want to get to other part of this story already…..


	7. Chapter Six

Sorry for the wait. I had such trouble trying to write this chapter to a point that I felt it was okay, that I kept putting it aside. That tends to be my biggest enemy when writing; I always want to get to the better parts. I also hope that i found most mistakes, tell me if you found one though. Hope you enjoy it and please review. It makes me want to write more when I can read what you think and know if you like what I'm writing. 24/5/14

Edit: See that is why I like reviews. I know there are going to be little things I miss or don't always see. As Vangran point out to me, there were 3 times where I wrote 'cause' instead of 'course'. XD I admit that to me I find it odd, but I also know it's more than likely right.

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><p><span><strong>Chapter Six<strong>

The following morning Harry waited until he was certain that there was no one upstairs before he made his way down the hall to the third floor boys' bath room. Not knowing what to expect, he took his first look in the mirror. There was a stranger's face staring back at him from the glass.

It was very similar to his own face in some ways. His hair was darker now, more of a midnight black rather than a dark chocolate brown that it had been, the length on the other hand had remained the same, but it had lost all of its wildness, and looked manageable for the first time. His cheekbones were more defined, and his jaw seemed more delicately shaped. His eyes weren't green at all, but an icy blue that was just as noticeable. His skin was a different tone, less golden and far paler. His nose was slightly longer as well.

Then Harry felt like crying. He looked like a completely different person than he had when he woke up yesterday morning. Which was good and all for the wizardry world but how did he explain it in the muggle one? This was something he now realised he hadn't thought about yesterday. 'What had happened? Where was his face? His green eyes, his dark chocolate brown hair… these had always been essential parts of Harry Potter. He wanted them back!' And just as he thought it, Harry felt what could only be described as an internal snap, and suddenly he was looking at his usual face, minus the lightning bolt scar of course.

_The heritage,_ he realized suddenly. He had gone to bed last night feeling comfortable as Hephaestus Peverell, so he had woken up this morning looking like him. This was so much more than he had expected from the goblins' explanations. It took him a full minute to calm down enough to regain the sense of comfortable anonymity and freedom he had felt last night, but when he managed it, the stranger's face was back in the mirror. 'No, not a stranger,' thought Harry. 'This was Hephaestus. This was the face that the Peverell heritage had given to one of its own,' He smiled. It was a perfect disguise, a completely new identity.

With the problem of being recognized solved, he made is way down for what remained of breakfast.

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><p>Time pasted and Harry's seventh birthday came and went. He continued with his self study, and when he finished reading his current books, which also allowed him to read the story about his ancestors, he went and brought books about etiquette, being an heir, music, magical creatures and magical theory; some of which he brought new and others second hand.<p>

It was during this time that Harry had also discovered the orphanages library which Tom must have hidden just to spite them. It wasn't too big, about the size of two of the small but larger bedrooms in the orphanage, but it did have several shelves of books and some tables and chairs to sit at.

As it was, it was currently getting closer to the forth of September and the start of a new school year and Harry had decided to spend some time reading out in the sun. He was currently reading a beginners music book with Elfrida wrapped around his neck when he was greeted to the sound of yelling, out of curiosity he decided to walk around to the front and see what the commotion was about.

He was greeted to a sight that seemed vaguely familiar or more like the people were familiar. There was a purple faced walrus of a man dragging a somewhat plump, blond haired child though the gates of the orphanage, while a skinny, blond horse faced woman walked calmly behind them.

The man which had thick, dark hair, a bushy black moustache, with hardly any neck and small, mean blue eyes was shouting and raving, as he dragged the child up the path by his forearm.

It came as no surprise that there were now several children of varying ages standing around watching as the scene unfolded. Unfortunately it was as Mrs Ranch appeared at the top of the steps, that Harry happened to be shoved from behind by a passing child not looking where he was going, causing Harry to trip and draw the man's attention to himself.

Suddenly the man was screaming at him, "This is your fault! You brought this on your cousin! You turned him into a freak like you!" Harry didn't miss how the man called the fat blond boy his cousin and not the man's son.

Just as quickly if not more so the blond horse faced woman was standing in front of him screeching obstinacies at him and blaming him for his cousin's 'freakishness'. All the while the boy stood, hanging by his arm with silent tears running down his face.

Finally Mrs Ranch spoke, "What is the meaning of this?!" She screamed, clearly infuriated at her peace being disturbed, "I will ask you both once to calm down or I will call the police," she all but growled out, which quickly shut the couple up. "Now why are you here?" she finally asked.

"We are here to get rid of him," The walrus shoved the boy forward. "We don't know when and we don't know how but in the 8 months that we housed that," he pointed at Harry, "freak of a nephew, he contaminated our child and I won't have it. I will not have one of them in my home! Therefore he is your problem now." With that said the walrus of a man who was apparently Harry's uncle walked off, the sound of a car door slamming echoed though out the yard.

The thin woman who could only be Harry's aunt walked forward and gave a backpack and duffle bag to the boy, she then passed a box over to Mrs Ranch, "That holds any and all of Dudley's important papers and documents such as his birth certificate," she then walked out the gate after her husband.

The sound of a car starting rang though the yard and from what Harry managed to see the car was packed to go somewhere. After that Harry was quick to make a retreat to his room, not wanting to stick around long enough to give the children more reason to notice him.

As it was, where such an act of abandonment would have normally been investigated by the police and possibly even have had charges pressed against the couple, it was not to be as Harry found out by the late night radio news that night. The couple known now throughout most of England as Petunia and Vernon Dursley, along with Vernon's sister Marjorie 'Marge' Dursley were killed in a car crash a short few hours after they had dropped of Dudley at the orphanage. The three had gone out to dinner and on the way home were hit by a drunk driver that had run a red light at speeds up to 100 kilometres an hour. Petunia and Marge died as the scene having been on the side of the car that was hit by the drunk driver, while Vernon had died on the way to the hospital.

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><p>In Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts, alarms were blearing as all but one of his gadgets mentoring various things stopped working. Not that he had known but some of them had already stopped working after Harry's second trip to Gringotts. The wards which he had put up around the Dursleys to monitor a magical child had just collapsed, not that they were even watching Harry all this time. No for Dumbledore, thinking that Harry would be the only magical child, did not specify who they were watching and so in the absence of Harry the wards that were connected to Petunia, being Lilly's sister had been watching Dudley the whole time but when Petunia abandoned him, the wards finally collapsed.<p>

So it was that Albus Dumbledore, along with Severus Snape appeared outside number 4 Privet Drive on a sunny day towards the end of August. What he didn't realise or think about was that the ward watching Privet Drive were not all of them, as parts of the wards being connected to Petunia and Dudley had followed the family to their new home.

Seeing nothing obvious that would cause the wards to fall Dumbledore walked up the path and rang the doorbell. A few second latter the door was answered by a young boy who at first glance made them think it was Harry but the two professed soon saw the little things that told them that the small black haired boy was not Harry Potter. Just what was going on?

"Dad! There's a weird old man in a dress here!" The young boy shouted over his shoulder.

Soon after there was a large, but not quite obese man with short black hair and dark blue eyes before them. "Harold, go to your room, now and take your brother with you," was all the man said and the boy was gone, quickly seen dragging a dark blond haired boy up the stairs with him.

"Now who are you and why are you here?" the man asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"We were looking for a family called the Dursleys? You wouldn't be able to help us would you?" Dumbledore asked in his best concerned grandfather voice.

"I know of them but they aren't here, haven't been for four-five years now. We rented the house from them in the beginning but they just sold it to us recently. Why do you ask?" man said his eyes still narrow with mistrust and a frown marring his face.

"We are concerned for a little boy with them, he'd be about the same age as your son with dark brown hair and green eyes," Dumbledore began to explain.

"I don't know what you're talking about, they only have one son and he had light blond hair and blue eyes!" The man cut in.

"What do you mean?" Snape, a thin pale man with a long nose and shoulder length black hair asked.

"That there never was a second child; we only ever saw the one, their son Dudley. Now please leave," The man said about to shut the door when Dumbledore stopped him and whispered legilimency, finding that what the man said was true he wiped his mind of everything they just said and made him think that they had the wrong door and had left straight after.

The next place the professors went to was a house on Wisteria Walk where the local batty old woman with grizzled grey fly away hair lived. Her name was Arabella Figg, but what no one in the area knew was that she was a Squib.

Knocking on the door, the two professors were quickly let inside by Arabella who was wearing a hairnet and tartan carpet slippers with a blue bathrobe.

"What are you doing here Albus?!" she all but hissed out the question, "And in robes no less, you'll draw attention to yourself," she began to berate them; however Dumbledore quickly cut her off.

"We are here because the wards have fallen and neither Harry Potter, nor the Dursleys have lived at number 4 Privet Drive for over four years or more, why did you not tell me?" he asked furious.

"Albus what are you talking about?! I've been in this house since you helped me get this house shortly after Harry turned two and I have been watching that family ever since then!" Mrs Figg defended herself.

Shocked silence filled the room until Severus began to chuckle spitefully but it didn't last long, "Oh this is rich. The great Albus Dumbledore out smarted by a muggle family. Did you ever check on them even once?! No of course not, you left that up to a batty old, senile squib didn't you and just assumed everything was dandy! I swear Albus if anything has happened to that child..." the threat hung open. The young professor began to pace around the room, "Don't you get it Albus, they left but no they didn't just leave, they made sure to find a family that could pass off as them from a distance. They out smarted you and all because you never bother to check on him! And now we have no idea where he could be. This is on you Albus!" With that Severus Snape stormed though the front door and vanished with a crack.

With that it was like a play button had been pressed as Albus Dumbledore finally got over his shock but now he had no idea what to do. Harry Potter; his left 'white castle', was missing, the wards had fallen and the Dursley were not where they were supposed to be. Not to mention it would seem that recently all but one of his monitors had stopped working so the only thing he knew for certain was that the boy was still alive, though why his didn't notice this sooner, his didn't know. 'Well first-' he thought to himself, 'he would start with Mrs Figg and the go after Snape as he couldn't let it been known that Harry Potter was missing, or for that matter lose one of his 'bishops' along with his castle. Hopefully he would be found before his first school year.' With that he cast a memory charm on Mrs Figg making her think that the Dursleys had just recently moved and she was no longer needed. He then vanished with a crack to chase after his runaway bishop.

* * *

><p>Over the next few days, several things were made clear. Harry hated his family, Dudley his cousin was a brat and a bully who was use to getting his own way until recently, and Dudley Dursley was a 'Freak' like his cousin Harry and everyone in the orphanage knew it.<p>

Therefore it came as no surprise that over the past few days that every time Dudley tried to make himself seem powerful, that all the orphans had banned together against him in one form or another.

Harry had spent those same days thinking long and hard about how to deal with his cousin. His cousin was fat, with blond hair and blue eyes, though his clothes suggested that he had recently began to lose weight and Harry knew he would continue to do so at the orphanage and he seemed to be of avenge intelligence. But he was also apparently magical, he was Harry's cousin, and he like Harry had been abandon at this orphanage by his cousin's parents.

It was as Harry was thinking about this while walking around the orphanage that Harry first heard them before he saw them as he came around the corner. There in the hallway on the second floor was a group of five older boys and there was someone in the middle of them that they were beating up. Harry was going to walk away until he heard one of them speak.

"You're not so tough now are you Freak!" One of the boys said.

"Yeah! Trying to make yourself seem big by picking on the smaller kids! But we showed you! You Freaks aren't wanted here! You and your Freak of a cousin!" Another ranted as he punched Dudley in the stomach.

Finally Harry had seen enough and decided to step in, in that same moment he had also decided on how to deal with his cousin. "Is that so?" Harry asked with a bored drawl, taking a step forward out of the shadows. The five boys seemed to freeze, fear written over their faces, before they grinned like a pack of wolf on a successful hunt. Not that it lasted long as Harry raised his hands and used the force of his magic to blast them across the hallway. They were then quick to pick themselves up and scatter, leaving a stunned Dudley still curled up on the floor.

Harry then helped pull his cousin up and they slowly made their way up the stairs, as Harry led his cousin to his room, where he sat him on the end of his bed and paced for a bit before he finally turned to face his silent cousin.

"You are magical, you like I am, are a wizard. You are what most would call a muggle-born. I know for a fact that our mothers come from a long line of squibs. However where I come from an upper-class pureblood family from my father's side, you come from a lesser middle-class family," Harry began to explain, "Never the less, we are family. I will stick by my family but I will not have you betray me in the future like your parents, there for you will give me an oath of loyalty. That you will never betray me and do whatever I ask of you," Harry ordered, not even leaving it open for other options with his still lingering feeling of betrayal from his Aunt and Uncle.

Dudley just sat there dumbstruck for a second, before he began to speak, "Wha- What do you mean? Magic? Wizards... You mean when strange things seem to happen around me?" he finally asked, "It was magic? But- but then Mum and- they lied to me! They said magic wasn't real and that I was just imagining all the strange things."

"Yes, they lied. They clearly hate magic and that is why they left us here," Harry answered, "But we have each other if you will have it. Just give me an oath on your magic that you Dudley Dursley-Wilkes will never betray me, your family of the Potter and Peverell line. You see your family's name in the wizardry world is, or was Wilkes, before they became squibs and moved into the muggle world. Squibs are people born in the wizardry world but do not have enough magic to use it." Harry explained to a wide eyed Dudley.

Dudley seemed to think for a second, "And you will never betray me or abandon me like 'they' did?" he asked softly, and Harry nodded, "Fine then," Dudley stood up and kneeled before Harry like he had seen knights do in movies and some of his games.

"**I, ****Dudley Vernon Dursley****, swear on my magic, my blood, my life and family, that I as a Wilkes will never betray my cousin and family Harry James Potter, also known as Hephaestus Judum Peverell," **magic helping him along with his cousins fall names,** "of the ****Potter and Peverells so long as we live and help him with anything he asks. May our families be forever stronger together!"**

Harry was left stunned as a warm, golden light suddenly surrounded the two young boys as magic interpreted Dudley's words as a pledge of loyalty and servitude between a Lord and commoner.

* * *

><p>Mean while within the halls of the Ministry of Magic in a room that was barely ever used now, a quill began to write down the oath of loyalty and an alliance made between the current heir of the Peverell-Potter family and the Wilkes family. Had someone been in the room they would have been asking why magic that hadn't been seen since the 1800's or earlier was being used now.<p>

At the same time a similar piece of paper appeared before Bloodtooth, to tell him of the pledges and to inform him that he was now in charge of managing the Wilkes account in the future.

* * *

><p>After the light vanished, Harry suddenly found his voice again, "What- What have you done!" was the first thing that fell from his mouth. Harry was in shock, he wanted his cousin to never betray him, not be his servant or whatever he now was, he could feel the magic between them but he didn't know just what it was.<p>

Dudley was stumped, he didn't understand what Harry was asking, "I did what you want me to do, I gave you my word that I would never betray you," he finally answered unsure if that was the right thing to say.

"You did but you said it in such a way that you did something else too! I don't know what it was but I can feel it in my magic! For all I know, you made yourself me servant or slave and because our magic accepted it there is no take back, no way to undo it!" Harry said becoming hysterical. He didn't want his cousin to be a slave, he just was just afraid of being betrayed by more family.

Now it was Dudley who was shocked, "I- oh," was the only thing he could manage while Harry paced around the room like a caged predator.

"Yes oh!" Harry snapped as he turned sharply to face Dudley before he continued to pace. He took a deep breath and let it back out with a sigh before he began to speak again.

"If that is the type of oath it is, then I will refrain from asking you to do something if you do not want too, however there is one thing we are changing no matter what," Harry said as he sat down in his arm chair he liked to read in, facing his bed and there for Dudley, "My name, or should I say my original name, 'Harry Potter' is a household name in the magical world but everything they think they know about me is a lie. Which is why I became Hephaestus Judum Peverell, because I am not their 'Harry Potter' but I know they will never see that. I also know that whoever put me with our lovely muggle relatives before I was dumped here, will know about you, if not by your looks, at least by your name, therefore as soon as possible, we are going to Diagon Alley. A wizard shopping area and changing your name to your original ancestor's name," Harry said with a tone that let nothing else to be said about it. "Aside from the fact that people won't find me that way, any purebloods would also be less likely to assume that you are what they would call a muggle-born, someone who is born with magic but had two non-magical parents." He explained, trying to make Dudley understand.

Dudley seemed to be thinking really hard for a few minutes with his eyes down casted and eyebrows crinkled close together over his nose, before he spoke, "That's fine by me. They left me here – Us here. So I want nothing to do with them!" He brashly decided.

That said, Harry raised one eyebrow questionably because while the reason had nothing to do with what he had just said. Still it had the same desired effect and while he could understand why, it was beside the point.

The two cousins spent the rest of the day moving Dudley's things into room 26, right next to Harry's room. They also spent some of that time finding things that had been stolen from Dudley - Harry made sure to prank each of the children that had either stolen or hurt his cousin by putting itching powder in their beds or swapping their soap for a bar of frog spawn soap.

Harry then spent the rest of the time teaching Dudley about what he knew of the wizardry world and made up a schedule for him to follow. Not giving him an inch about the fact that Harry was going to make him learn all the things that Harry himself already knew. He may have turned it into an order of sorts but Harry refused to have an ignorant cousin.

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><p>The following day while Dudley read in Harry's room with Elfrida watching his every move. While Harry went out to an upper class area of London and spent the day nicking rich people wallets. He was also almost caught by a bluecoat but because he never actively slipped his 'sticky' fingers into his victims' pockets he was able to get away and quickly hightailed it back to the orphanage with 400 pounds, after he made up a story about simply catching the wallet as it slipped out of the strangers pocket. Sure he had at least 20,000 galleons in his vault but he thought that he wanted to save it where possible. Plus it was all the money he had and he want to gain some more before he spent a lot but at the time he also thought he could still get money from the rich but after the close call today, he came to the conclusion that he best stop while he was ahead. So he spent what was left of the day helping teach his cousin. He would sign him up for all of his after school activities once school started back.<p>

The following day, the two cousins could be found on a bus in the early morning making their way to Charing Cross road. Arriving at their destination Harry pulled his cousin along, his summer cloak and green and black robes in his backpack.

"When he get there, make sure that you do not make a scene in anyway and try to look like you have been here before," Harry hissed as he led his cousin to the Leaky Cauldron. "If you must speak to me, my name is not Harry but Hephaestus. It is only in the muggle would that I am Harry," Harry who had already shown Dudley what he was coming to think of as his real appearance, led Dudley inside the pub to the upstairs washroom where Harry or Hephaestus put on his green robes and watched in mild fascination as he changed, his brown hair bled to black and his emerald eyes became an icy blue. He then pulled his black cloak around Dudley and pulled the hood up to hide his face for the time being and led him out the back.

He couldn't hold back the slight grin as his cousin got his first glance at the world they were meant to be a part of. He didn't let them stand there long though, before he pulled Dudley though the morning crowd and up the Gringotts bank, bowing to the guards as they entered.

Hephaestus led Dudley to one of the empty counters and waited for the goblin to finish what it was doing. After a few minutes the goblin finally spoke, "Can I help you?"

"Yes please, I wish to exchange 400 pounds to galleons and then I hope to be able to see my account manager Bloodtooth please," Hephaestus handed over the money and also showed the goblin his family ring, "Also may I please buy a standard purse with an invisible extension, feather light and anti thieving charm for my cousin here, you may take the 5 galleons from the exchange amount and put the rest in the bag."

"Of course young sir," the goblin quickly exchanged the money and handed the purse with 75 galleons, 2 sickles, 2 knuts in it to Harry which he quickly pocketed, to give to Dudley later before another goblin led them though the winding halls. Surprisingly, it didn't seem to take nearly as long as last time, which simply made him believe that they led you around in circles on purpose. The goblin knocked on the door before opening it to let them in.

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><p>After the two had sat down; Dudley with his hood finally down, Bloodtooth finely spoke, "Good morning Mr Peverell, how may I help you today?" He asked as he put a stake of paper to the side.<p>

"Good morning Bloodtooth. Before I do anything today, I would like to have a heritage test done for my cousin. As we know from my own test, my mother is from the Wilkes line but for the recorded, I would like to have the test preformed anyways. After which, if he is able to take the name, I would like to change his name to Dallas Compedus Wilkes and like myself, have a whole new identity created for him," Harry explained his reasoning.

"It shall be done Mr Peverell but before that, for the records, a blood test must be done to confirm that your cousin is who you claim he is," Bloodtooth explained as he pulled out the parchment and knife placed them in front of Dudley and proceed to tell him more or less what he had previously told Harry last time.

"_To prove who you are, take this blade and make a cut on your hand and allow the blood to spill onto this parchment, it will show us who you are and if you hold any accounts here at Gringotts,"_ he explained, even though they knew the Dursley family shouldn't.

Dudley looked unsure as he stared at the knife if slight fear at the thought of having to cut himself, until Harry explained, "Don't worry about the cut Dudley, after the right amount of blood has fallen on the parchment, the cut will heal over like it was never there," Which was all it took for Dudley to have the courage cut his hand for the test. What Harry didn't get to say was to tell him to simply make a small cut on his finger, so instead he watched in mild shock and winced slightly as Dudley made a large cut across the palm of his hand; the parchment got more than enough blood and the cut itself was quick to healed over, leaving no sign that it was ever there.

It was fascinating to watch though as the blood on the parchment sank into the paper and vanished before black ink appeared and began to move across the page forming words, much like last time. Although there was nothing there they didn't expect, Harry could still see the slight pain in his cousins face as he looked at the time of his parents deaths.

**BLOOD TEST OF:**

**DUDLEY VERNON DURSLEY**

Born: 23 of June, 1980 at half past 7 in the morning

**Father:** Vernon Jonathan Dursley

Born: 3 of April, 1958 at 10 past 11 in the morning

Death: 24 of August, 1987 at quarter to 10 at night

**Mother:** Petunia Violet Dursley nee Evans

Born: 18 of October 1958 at 4 in the morning

Death: 24 of August, 1987 at 25 past 9 at night

**Heir to:**

The Dursley Family by blood (Muggle family)

With Dudley's identity confirmed Bloodtooth led them to the same bare room that Harry had his heritage test done in. And like before the only things in the room were a few comfortable chairs and a table which had Knacklebrat and Cursentog standing over it in their pale blue lab coats.

But for Dudley's sake Bloodtooth reintroduced them, "Mr Dursley this is Knacklebrat and Cursentog, they will be doing the inheritance test for you today. Mr Peverell please having a seat while they help your cousin," With that Bloodtooth sat down in one of the available chairs to wait and Harry followed suit.

Knacklebrat and Cursentog were quick to ask Dudley to take of his top layers much as they had Harry and explain how they would draw blood from several key points in the spinal and abdominal regions to ensure the most accurate reading.

So Dudley undressed as he was asked to and tried not to wince every time they drew the blood, even if he knew it would be healed, it still hurt. And after they had all the blood they needed he was quick to put his shirt back on and sit down in a seat next to Harry who sipping the pumpkin juice they gave him.

Harry watched as the two goblins preformed their jobs in the exact same order as they had last time, neither doing more than the jobs required.

It wasn't long before Cursentog announced that they had found a magical heritage and the two goblins could be heard talking between each other.

"Really?" asked Knacklebrat. "Which family? Is it the Wilkes we saw on Mr Peverell's family tree?"

"Yes and like with Mr Peverell it is a bit purer than I anticipated, though I suppose we shouldn't be surprised, what with them being cousins," Cursentog answered as he studied the results.

Dudley who already knew all of this because of Harry was not truly surprised but he did find it interesting to watch.

Harry on the other hand was just glad that Dudley's test didn't take nearly as long as his did.

"I already plan to have my cousin Dudley claim membership into the Wilkes family. However, out of curiosity, what magical aliment is the family known for and did they have any particular gifts?" Harry asked from his seat.

Knacklebrat stroked his chin as he considered the question something that Harry decided must be a habit for the goblin when he was in deep thought. "The Wilkes family were a fairly well-to-do middle class family; similar to the Peverells but for the different classes. As it is the last known magical member of the Wilkes family was killed during in battle by Aurors in 1980. Until the last war, they were traditionally a Grey family; something that is almost never seen today. We cannot, in all honesty, guarantee if the heritage would take or not because Mr Dursley's magic will be naturally be light oriented because of the generations with no magical contact. That aside the Wilkes were notorious for their elemental fire magic, which for them, often went hand-in-hand with metal crafting and their loyalty. Most likely, because of the strong relation, the attribute might bleed over," he said as he looked over the parchment Cursentog had handed him, "Unlike like the Peverells, Gringotts still retains Wilkes vaults which have remained unclaimed since the last Head died, as well as a standard heritage acceptance potion and a signet ring in storage for any claimants."

"I see, what is difference between a grey wizard and a dark or light wizard?" Harry asked in thought, having never heard of a grey wizard any of his books he has read yet.

"Grey wizards; like Dark and Light wizards, a class onto their own, Mr Peverell," Cursentog said as he looked up from the bowls he was cleaning. "Where a Dark wizards magic is more suited to the heaver magic, which most call Dark, a Grey wizard is the perfect balance between the two. While they cannot perform some of the strongest dark or light magic, they can otherwise perform a perfect mix of both types; it is why they were so rare in the past and are now otherwise unheard of. Most of the known grey wizards, such as the Zabini, Davis, Greengrass and Bletchley, are now considered to be dark by today's society."

"Thank you for that," It was fascinating thought, Harry couldn't help but imagine a set of scales, on one side was the dark magic, and on the other was the light magic, but holding them both was the scales which was really the grey magic. It made sense that there had to be something between the two, "All the same, I would like my cousin to claim the family. I have already explained to him what will happen."

It was Knacklebrat who spoke next, "So you are aware that if you did this, like Mr Peverell; while not as large, you might risk a magical imbalance?" He asked Dudley

"Hephaestus told me of the possibility but he also explained that it is to protect both him and myself from unwanted attention. So I still wish to do it," Dudley answered without much thought, "I also hope that it will change how I look," he said the last bit more to himself as he stared at a spot on the floor in irritation.

"You are also aware that such a duality would never last then Mr Dursley," Knacklebrat asked, clearly thinking about the last time Harry was here. "That you will eventually develop a stronger leaning toward one type of magic."

"I am," Dudley answered. "I want to claim the heritage. It will make me someone else like Hephaestus, and I want that, I don't want to be Dudley Dursley."

"If you're sure Mr Dursley, we will first need to have you checked for anything that could interfere with the procedure." Cursentog answered.

* * *

><p>It didn't take long for the goblins to gather what they needed and soon they ran more tests, which were quick to come up clean. They then quickly led the two cousins to the Ritual Room where they had Dudley kneel in the middle of the circular marble rune inlaid into the floor of room. In the crystal goblet on the floor in front of him was the acceptance potion and beside it was a parchment with a written version of the Wilkes family acknowledgment. At the goblins' instruction, Dudley drank the potion and recited the acknowledgment:<p>

**I, Dudley Vernon Dursley, claim the heritage of the Wilkes family. I accept the heritage in blood, in memory, and in magic. I will take the name Wilkes as one of my own, never to bring it shame or to betray those I am loyal to. I am of the Wilkes line, and this is my right.**

Harry watched on in fascination as the magic took hold and for a second it looked like Dudley had been engulfed in flames and then it was over as quickly as it came. Harry went over to help his cousin stand back up.

"Well," said Cursentog in satisfaction. "It didn't kill him, not that I thought it would after Mr Peverell."

They gave Dudley a small box which they said held the Wilkes family signet ring; a silver ring with a silver lined shield with a hammer and a flaming sword crossed over an anvil carved into a red stone, and a stack of papers which were the certified copies of his blood records and much like they did Harry, they advised him not to put the ring on until the following day and also mentioned the need to donate blood should another family member appear.

Cursentog cleared his throat. "Who should I list you as for record keeping purposes?" He asked Dudley.

"Dudley's new name will be Dallas Compedus Wilkes," Harry answered for his cousin having already decided on this the night before.

"Thank you for your time Cursentog, Knacklebrat," Bloodtooth finally spoke as he then proceeded to lead the two cousins back to his office.

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><p>In Bloodtooth's office they spent the time creating Dallas Compedus Wilkes and all of his documents. Dallas was born 23 of June 1980, a pureblood to Petronia 'Petria' Zelia and Lavern Gifre Wilkes. Petronia was born the 10 July, 1960 and Lavern was born 19 November 1960, Lavern was killed during the last war on 29 of September 1980 and Petronia died during childbirth shortly after they had been married in a small privet wedding. With all the needed documents created and sent to the right places Bloodtooth put the files aside and pulled out the Peverell and Wilkes finance files.<p>

"In the time since I last met with you Mr Peverell I have taken the liberty of investing in a small few Wizardry businesses such as 'Ellerby and Spudmore' which is a small broom-making company, book publisherObscurus Books and Millamant's Magic Marquees, a tent manufacturer," Bloodtooth passed Harry a somewhat thick file. "I have been looking at others but have been going slowly to do some background checks first. I have also looked at some companies in the muggle world but have been waiting to check with you if this was oaky or if you would prefer to have little to do with the other side." He explained.

Harry who had looked through the ventures that Bloodtooth had brought shares in as well as the ones he had been trying to and looking at before he came to the muggle companies. There were several on the list, such as Busways Travel Services Limited, Plane Handling Ltd, Maxis and Microsoft, among many others, some of which didn't even reside in the United Kingdom. Not that this said much to him because as he had told Bloodtooth last time, he was just a child, even if he was smarter than average.

"As I stated before Bloodtooth, I trust you and your judgment on the subject. As for the muggle world, if you think that more profit can be made there, then do so," Harry passed the folder back to Bloodtooth. "I do have one request though. Having read the Prophet and most of which I feel comfortable saying is junk and have learnt more about 'Harry Potter's fame'," he couldn't help but use quotation marks with his hands here, "I wish to acquire the largest percentage of any papers and magazines printed in the UK's Wizardry world. Starting with the prophet, so that if anything ever gets out about myself as Hephaestus Peverell or Harry Potter; I will be able to control it. I don't expect it to be instant or even easy but I would like a large part of it done by the time I enter Hogwarts. On that note, I also request that either I get a reasonable percentage of anything sold about Harry Potter or 'they' stop selling the books or items altogether and still pay me back for profiting from using my name without my consent," He explained and watched as Bloodtooth wrote little dot-points down.

Having finished writing for the time, Bloodtooth looked up as he spoke with a grin and a glint in his eye, "It shall be done," You could almost hear the joy in his voice at the thought of the challenges that were now set before him.

They then went on to speak briefly about the Wilkes accounts and businesses which had slowly degraded over the last 7 years. They learnt more about the real Lavern Wilkes, the last heir of the known mainline who was sorted into Slytherin in 71' and joined the Death Eaters straight out of school in 78', dying in 1980 during one of the battles between the two fractions. The Ministry had then tried to seize the Wilkes family vaults but as they couldn't prove that there was no one else from the family alive - they failed - like every other time they tried to do so to other 'dead' families. As for how they were related; if anyone asked, Hephaestus's mother Calla was Lavern Wilkes's little sister who was sent to the French school Beauxbatons Academy of Magic at her own request, instead of Hogwarts.

* * *

><p>- Mrs Figg was an elderly widow who lived alone with no one but a bunch of cats that she treated like really people and more so her children. So yes, in this story she also happens to be a little senile.<p>

-About the pledge that Dudley gave. Harry may be very smart but he is still a child and he is there for still prone to letting his emotions rule him in one way or another. Dudley his also a child; but with an average intelligence, who has before now grown up watching many movies and playing. So I don't know about others but I can easily see a child making such a pledge, not knowing it would have consequences because of their magic. Harry who had read of oaths didn't expect his cousin to say it how he did but it was too late to change it now.

- At the part where Dudley says he wants nothing to do with his parents. I was really temped to stop it there but I prefer not to have short chapters. It's also why this chapter has taken as long though, because I have had a mental blank. (Also, I suddenly find the need to ask myself how anyone can type with long nails, it just feels too weird!)

- There is Dudley taking his first step into the wizardry world and get a new name. Dallas is Gaelic, from the dales the valley meadows; can't remember why I picked that. I think it may have to do with the Evens women having names of flowers….? Compedis is Latin for fetters, shackles, chains; referring to the oath Dudley gave. Wilkes means will, desire, helmet, protection.

- Petronia 'Petria' Zelia Wilkes nee Gulo

I spent quite some time searching for another name for Petunia but simply put I could not find another name that look different enough, sound good and was a flower or meant a flower so instead I ended up searching through names that were variants of Petunia or somehow had a link connected to it and ended up with Petronia. I first came across Petula which is of Latin origin but it sound too close to Petunia to me. The other names I found were Parthenia which is Greek and means 'maiden' but it didn't seem right to me, so I chose Petronia which is also Greek and means 'rock'. I may or may not have also been influenced by my dislike of her character though? XD

Zelia, apparently it is possibly of Greek origin and means 'zeal, envy'. Enough said for my choosing of it. And from the wikipedia page about Wolverines of all things, Gulo which is Latin and means glutton. Do not even try to ask to how I came across that bit of info because I really cannot remember. XD

- Lavern Gifre Wilkes – Lavern is a variant of Laverne and Vernon, the meaning is alder grove. Gifre is of English origin and means greedy.

- Busways Travel Services Limited was a large bus operator in the 1990s in the north east of England.

- Dnata Ltd, formerly Plane Handling Ltd, is one of the largest independent aircraft ground handling companies in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1987 at Radius Park.

- Maxis is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987.

- Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975 to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for Altair 8800.  
>- The idea of Harry or Hephaestus (I'm still trying to figure out how to address him. I know that once he is fully in the Wizardry world that I'll use Hephaestus) having shares in the muggle world to gain more money goes completely to <span>RRW<span> who suggested it in a review. I will continue to try and keep the story realistic and not to 'godmod-like' but I admit there are times where there are things I either don't fully understand or get carried away in the moment. One such thing I doubt I will ever fully understand enough to write about is shares. Even when I read about such things and see the logic behind it, it just ends up going 'in one ear and out the other'.


	8. Extra one-shot about Dudley

Before I do anything. I want to say thank you to all of you who have reviewed. I can't say if it is consider a lot or not but for me it is. I have read some amazing reviews. At least I think they are and the rest have just made me smile. I don't ever really expect to be so amazing writer like some of my favourite authors or writer here on fanfiction but some of the reviews I have read have been so helpful and eye-opening. More than one person has pointed out faults to me and given me things to think about. I have even had some great chats with some of the reviews and I want to say thank you because I really do appreciate all of it.

I have been slowly going back and trying my best to fix some of the many problems that have been pointed out to me such as course, staff and standard. It was also pointed out to me that my sentences can be too long and while I don't see myself rewriting them, I have tried to shorten some of them. Tried being the word.

Anyways, here is a one-shot I have written up after a conversation with one of the reviewers. They told me how they felt somewhat confused by some of Dudley's actions and I didn't know how to explain it in words. So instead I wrote up this short first person point of view to try and show how I see Dudley here and why he reacted as he did.

This was part of my post and the one-shot I wrote in repose. Hope you like it and that it may clear up something's about Dudley for you. It was the reviewer who told me I should go ahead and post it when I mentioned that I was considering it after writing it.

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><p><em>I think I did for several reasons; in some ways it is hard to remember because I did it so long ago now, since I had that bit written out since I updated over 2 months ago. But I think to some degree it may or may not have been out of spite for Dudley at the time. Let's face it; he is a brat and a bully. But I also have a bad habit of loving to imagine that Harry is 'all powerful'. XD Which is funny because I don't even like him as a favourite character, but he is also the main character for HP and I love the HP world.<em>

_More so though, it was also just sort of how I imagine Dudley to be as a child and in this situation. Dudley to me seems like a child who (as a child, not when he is older) is quite extreme about how he reacts to things. Like when he throws that huge tantrum because he was '2 presents' short, when he already had something like 37-39? But the best way I can describe it is to put myself in his shoes._

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><p>My name is Dudley and as far as I know, I know I have a cousin but my parents never told me about 'Him'. No, for some reason they never mentioned 'Him' at all but I'll get back to that. I know that I am spoilt and I can get whatever I want or I could, and I know how push all the right buttons. But even so, it's odd. I don't remember much; not anything really, but I know that when I was little, really little, 2 or 3 that I…. I use to be able to get more and I was happier and so were my parents.<p>

But then one day it changed…. I was about 3 and I really wanted a cookie. Even though I knew I shouldn't and Mummy just wasn't fast enough. I don't remember why, but she was busy and I had thrown a tantrum for ages but Mummy still would let me have a cookie. I wanted it so badly and Daddy; who would let me have more of whatever I want wasn't home. So I made it come to me. I remember vaguely concentrating and wishing that I could have that cookie from the jar on the corner of the bench. Next thing I know, the jar is open and there was a cookie flying across the room and straight to me.

I was so happy, but then Mummy stopped what she was doing and just began screaming. She was screaming like there were bad people in the house and she was scared. And when she stopped screaming and seemed to realise what had happened, she started yelling at me and shacking me before she locked me in my room for the first time. I never got to eat the cookie. And when Daddy came home I could hear them screaming and yelling about something. I don't remember all the details but they kept mentioning 'Him' and saying it was all 'His' fault.

Mummy seemed to forget about it by the next day or so. But after that time she never quite seemed to hug me as tightly, or cuddle me as much. Daddy; Daddy seemed to forget all together. Maybe because he didn't see it. For a while everything was fine and it was like it never happened but then one day in nursery I turned this mean ladies hair blue because she wouldn't let me stay awake in nap time. Then Mummy came and it started all over again. Only this time they didn't forget. They tried to acted like it never happened but it was the little things that told me it was wrong. Like the way they never let me watch anything with the 'M' word and how they told me again and again that it wasn't real and wasn't normal. The way Mummy didn't always buy me new clothes or a new toy every time we went out and I didn't always get desert anymore. And the way Daddy would look at me when he thought I couldn't see.

The strange things slowly happened more and more, and Mummy and Daddy became more and more angry. I got less and less food, and less toys and new clothes. Until I hardly ever got anything new. Then one day I accidently slipped and began to fall down the stairs. But then 'it' just stopped and it was like I was floating. But then they saw and Mummy began to scream and I fell the rest of the way.

That was when Daddy said it had to stop and that he refused to have a 'Freak' for a son. They packed up their things and a few of mine and Daddy sold the house real quick and a week later, here I was. Being dragged to the orphanage. I knew what was happening; Daddy spent the whole week telling me every time he saw me. That they were goanna get rid of me and that I was no son of his, that I was just like my freak of a Cousin. Just like 'Him'. That I was a Freak and unwanted, unloved.

When we arrived at the orphanage and Daddy saw the other boy trip and suddenly started screaming at him, I knew. I knew that he had to 'Him'. The one that they would scream about behind closed doors whenever 'it' happened.

I tried to be strong. I tried to make them listen to me like the children at kinder and school would. But it didn't work and then as the week passed they became more and more mean, pushing me and shoving me and stealing bits of my food. The adults didn't even stop it and I became so angry that I started hurting the younger children in return. But then they got the older kids and they hurt me more.

But then 'He' came, and he chased them away. He helped me up and took me to his room and helped me with my sores. I watched him as he thought, he was so angry looking and then he told me. He told me about magic and that we were family and how he and I are the same. We both have magic and that's why 'They' were mean. And that I had a choice. I could swear loyalty to him, 'like knights would in my favourite movies or he would never trust me and I knew he would be mean in some way. I thought a lot. I thought I didn't want to lose him. I don't want to be alone… I thought about my parents. They were meant to be my family. But they left me here, here with 'Him'. He's my family, he's my cousin. Would he really want me if I promised to be loyal to him and never betray him like 'They' betrayed me. I don't know him. I know this but he is family isn't he? He was nice to me just now, he help me and saved me from the mean older kids. He's strong, he must be. He blasted them away from me with just his magic. Could I do that? I thought about a lot of things and I decided.

I want to! I don't want to be alone! So I got down on one knee and pledge my alliance to my cousin. My only Family. Just like the knights in my favourite movies.

* * *

><p><em>At least, that is the closeted I describe to how I see it from Dudley's view. He's an extreme child, who doesn't quite know differently when it comes to consequences, and doesn't know the power of magic in words.<em>


	9. Chapter Seven

**Dec. 28, 2014 Revision:** I am in the process of cleaning up some minor mistakes and reinserting the section breaks that I took out. If you're re-reading or just starting this fic, and you find mistakes, do let me know so that I can correct them. I don't use a beta, so it's helpful. As always before, reviews and insights are deeply appreciated.

**July 07, 2015:**

So in the end I went back and read each chapter making some minor changes here and there but I still remain quite stuck on this story. I want to write it but most of the time my mind wants to jump ahead to the start of Hogwarts, even though I'm not there yet. As for any real changes I made to this. Don't ask. I'm not even sure because of the amount of times between every time I tried to work on this. Just finishing chapter seven to what it is now was a killer. And I still feel like it should be better….. Don't even get me started on chapter eight. I'm staring at a blank page asking myself all those Ws and H. Oh and then there was the few months or weeks where I lost one of my finals while my brother cleaned my main computer. That made me lose a lot of inspiration at the time because I felt like I couldn't work without all my files. It's just how I am. I have my main doc for my story and then I have all these other ones for different information that I may or may not always use. More often than not though it helps when you looking for something. So basically I hope this is at least a little reasonable for you.

On another note, is there anyone among those reading this that things they have a good grasp on weapons and warfare? I can't say if I will or won't use it and if I do it's a looonng ways off but I'd really like it if someone pmed me that I could bounce some vague ideas off of sometime.

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><p><span><strong>Chapter Seven<strong>

After their visit to the bank they made a quick retreat back to the orphanage, with the promise of a proper visit the following day once Dudley's new heritage had come through so that they could walk around without meeting anyone that might later not recognise Dudley and become confused or suspicious. Harry was already worried about how he would explain it to the twins and Norma if he ever saw them again and he did want to keep in contact with them. He at least had a vague idea but he doubted such an excuse could be used twice.

There was how ever one interesting moment when they were making their way back from the bus stop. They had just walked by a stranger on the street. From the brief glace Harry was able to see that the man was wearing an extremely shabby set of dark clothes that had been repaired in several places. He looked ill and exhausted. Though quite young, his light brown hair that had the rare gray through it. Harry would have thought nothing of it - but for the man being another poor possibly homeless person - except that when he glanced backwards the strange man had stopped and seemed to be almost sniffing the air. But then the man seemed to shake whatever it was off and continue to wherever he was headed.

Afterwards Harry didn't think much on the slightly odd incident and the two boys spent the rest of the day studying or reading.

In Harrys case, if he wasn't helping Dudley, he spent most of the time practicing his writing with a quill so that he could then write a letter to his new friends and send it with an owl once he found out where the Owl Office was, that is.

It was while practising his writing that an idea came to Harry about how he could explain being 'Harry' to his potential new friends the other day and proceed to explain it to Dudley himself, so that if the friends asked their stories would match up.

* * *

><p>The following day, with Harry's bag once again packed with his robes and money pouch. But this time it also contained Dudley's pouch and two letters he had written to both<strong>,<strong> Fred and George and Norma. In which he had written about how is his real name was Hephaestus Peverell. But on the day he had met them his cousin Dallas Wilkes and he had just recently read the Harry Potter books and his cousin had then commented on how if he changed his hair and eye colour he could almost look like Harry Potter - without his glasses of cause. So as a dare from his cousin he had then used some potions to change his hair and eye colour for the day and pretended to be Harry to anyone he met and see if they reacted. He was also admitted that he was thankful that nobody had. For, although it might have been funny, it also could have ended badly. Like being chased by a mob of crazy Harry Potter fans. But because he really did want to know them and maybe be friends in the future, he had written to explain who he really was and apologise for lying to them.

* * *

><p>So with another day planned out. Harry woke Dudley early so that they could sneak out with their 'other faces' before anyone saw them. Also because then Dudley would have time to get use to his new looks and practice changing back and forth. And boy was Dudley happy with his new looks.<p>

When he woke up the morning, gone was his thick blond hair and watery pale blue eyes and chubby round pig-like face and in their place was soft hazel brown hair and startlingly green, almond-shaped eyes, set into a face; while still somewhat chubby, long face with high cheek bones. Dudley - or Dallas as he was now, couldn't have been happier as he did a little dance out of sheer joy for no longer looking like his parents. Harry even commented on how his eyes looked like Harry's when he wasn't being Hephaestus. He then practiced changing before they left.

So the cousins as Hephaestus and Dallas made their way down Diagon Alley to Rosa Lee Teabag where Harry had decided that they would have breakfast for the day. Before they made their way first to Second-Hand Robes for Dallas and then to the bank.

The morning was chillier then usual and there weren't that many people out yet, so the walk was quicker than it might have otherwise been. It was easy to get a table for two and treat themselves to a slightly more filling breakfast then they would have otherwise had. Hephaestus had ordered two sunny side-up eggs on toast and a glass of pumpkin juice, while Dallas had tried to order a full English breakfast until Hephaestus told him no and had ordered what he was having for his cousin too. This had almost caused a scene until Hephaestus had explained that they did not have money to waste and that such a large breakfast would not only put on weight but would also likely make him feel sick later in the day since they never ate that much at 'home'. It was also how they learnt that Dallas little vow of loyalty did not mean that he had to do whatever Hephaestus said and that he still had a choice in that way at least.

They enjoyed their otherwise quite breakfast and watched silently as the alleyway slowly filled with more people. When they finished they were quick to then make their way to Second-Hand Robes.

It was as the bell tinkled to let the owner know they were there, that Harry once more thought about whether or not he should tell Miss Gianni about his 'pretending to be Harry' but he was quick to squash the thought as he realised that he did not have parents and the other day as 'Harry' he had told her that he did.

Miss Gianni was as chirpy as last time when she greeted them and was quick to help them once Hephaestus had explained that his cousin needed new robes and some shirts and pants as his cousin had recently lost some weight. As so half an hour later they left the store a few galleons lighter and Dallas wearing a red and silver robe on top a pair of black pants and a white button up shirt and carry a bag filled with two other robes, two more pairs of pants, two pairs of shorts, several different shirts and a winter and summer cloak.

"I am never doing that again Hephaestus!" Dallas whined as they walked to the bank. "I lost track of how many times she pricked me with that needle!"

Hephaestus just grinned softly, "Well maybe if you hadn't moved so much Cousin" He drawled out the last word, "she wouldn't have pricked you so much." He finished with a small laugh. Dallas just growled as he glanced sideways at Hephaestus and back down again as he muttered under his breath about girls, clothes and shopping while glaring at the ground.

* * *

><p>They were in luck when they entered the bank and were quick to be served and lead to Bloodtooth's office.<p>

Bloodtooth had been looking through files when they entered and had several stacks spread over the length of his desk.

"Good morning Mr Peverell, Mr Wilkes," He said as he put the current files he had been reading down. Both children were quick to reply in kind as they each took at seat.

"We have a lot to discuss today as I have been busy digging up every piece of information I could about both your families. I feel I should start with Mr Wilkes though as there is slightly less to explain and decide upon." Bloodtooth explained as he reached for a certain stack of files and both the boys nodded their heads. Dallas because he didn't really understand the 'grown up stuff' much and Hephaestus because he was still learning and trusted Bloodtooth's judgement.

So Bloodtooth pulled out what he had one the muggle Dursley family and began to explain his findings - from the fact that he had discovered that prior to the time of their deaths, neither Dallas's late parents, nor aunt had yet to have the time to change their wills.

"As such Mr Wilkes, you have received everything they owned. In the muggle world you would not have access to most of it until you are of age but here in the Wizardry world, I as your Account Manager can act in your stead. What would you like to do?" Bloodtooth asked as he passed forward a sheet of paper showing all the items, assets, savings and debts.

From Dallas parents there was;

- The house they had been paying off in London and was now foreclosed and up for up for auction unless something was done straight away

- All their personal items and furniture they owned

- The savings of twenty thousand pounds they had between them in the bank

- Along with a long line of debts they had built up while trying to live the high life

While from his Aunt Marge there was;

- Her home in countryside in Surrey - a small cottage surrounded by large gardens and a shed in the back where she kept the bulldogs she bread for a living

- The thirteen bulldogs she had currently had before her death. Her neighbour, a Colonel Fubster had been looking after them right now

- Her personal items and furniture

- It should be noted in her will that everything she owned was meant to first go to her brother Vernon and his wife and her nephew Dudley second

After having read through papers together and talking about it together. It was Hephaestus that made the final decision about what to do as Dallas didn't know what to do.

While having the house would have been nice, they simply didn't have the money between them to try and save it at this moment in time. Why the Dursley even thought that could afford such an upper class home was beyond Hephaestus. As for their personal items and furniture, it was decided after some thought that the furniture would all be checked to find out if they owned it or they had still been paying it off. If it was the first it would be stored in the Wilkes family vault until a later date and if it was still being paid off, it would be sold for the highest possible price to pay back the debt for each item and any profit from it would be used to pay other debts until they were all paid off. Their clothes were to be sold and personal items such as jewellery, books or other items were to be put in the vault, unless of cause it was something still being paid off. Then it would be sold off like the furniture.

Unfortunately, even with most of the stuff being sold, Hephaestus felt certain that there would be a nice size dent made in the Dursleys savings, if any of it survived at all.

As for Marges things, it was decided between them that all of Marges dogs aside from Ripper, would be sold. Ripper was to be put down, it was decided after Dallas had explained how she had trained the dog to attack people - even children - she didn't like. Anything that was not still being paid off was to be put in storage until later and or sold and the house was to be rented out to make some money from it and have someone to look after it. And the small sum of fifteen thousand she had was to be used to either pay of any debts received, yet to be paid off or to invested in companies to make more money for the Wilkes vaults. Which was not very much to begin with because it turned out that the late Mr Wilkes had a gambling problem. Hephaestus had just been glad to find that the family business, a Blacksmith and weapons store in Knocturn Alley had survived, unlike the Potters businesses, along with a few other investments.

They then proceed to touch base a little more on the Wilkes families businesses, such as fixing up the blacksmith which was beginning to look neglected. A few places Bloodtooth was looking at investing in, the Wilkes family Manor which had been brought by another family and if they should look at getting it back in the future. Dallas wanted it both for sentimental value since it might have otherwise been a part of his heritage and in the hopes to make it his home one day. But that would be a long time coming.

They then moved onto the Potter and Peverell family. The first thing they talked about was the rights to 'Harry Potter' as it was 'his name' and anything related to it, as well as taking class action to get back royalties from all previous profits made since October 31 1981 in his name. To take the rights to any and all merchandise on the marked in relation to Harry Potter and to set up licensing fees for anything Harry Potter. In truth Hephaestus would have like to have stopped it all together but the people wouldn't understand and there was so much profit he could make from it all. Any money made from it would be put into a completely new vault under the Potter family name though, so as to not draw any extra attention.

They then went on to talk about a few new discoveries Bloodtooth had made. Such as the fact that at the Owl Office Harry Potter is considered to be a V.I.R or Very Important Receiver and that because of this Albus Dumbledore saw to creating a safe-sender list for Harry when he was an infant and that the only one on said safe-sender list right now was Albus Dumbledore himself. Now unfortunately 'Harry' will not be able to control 'his' own mail until he is thirteen but they could redirect it all to Bloodtooth as his account manager and allow him to sort through it and pass on the important things until he is thirteen.

"So the reason I have never received any fan mail or hate mail or even junk post is again because of Albus Dumbledore?" Hephaestus asked in mild annoyance and frustration. He was truly beginning to loath the man.

"That's because you've got a very small safe-sender list, Mr Peverell. The shortest of any of V.I.R.'s in fact. Only people on the list are allowed to send you mail unless you invite the response of the general public by being quoted or featured in the newspaper or on the WWN. Everyone else's letters are either rerouted or destroyed at the main office." Bloodtooth explained.

'_What gave Dumbledore the right to keep practically everyone in the world from posting him? Sure, it was probably a good idea for a lot of reasons, but it should have been his decision.' He thought to himself._

"And what about mail sent to 'Hephaestus'?" And wasn't that weird to refer to himself as another person. "Will I still get mail from my friends then?" He asked as an afterthought.

"Yes, it is only Harry Potter that's mail has been 'blocked'." Was Bloodtooths quick and short reply.

Hephaestus had never imagined that there would be so much paperwork associated with his safe-sender list, but when it was all said and done, he couldn't have been more pleased. Bloodtooth would now receive mail from everyone for him and sort through it all. Mail that wasn't from someone he knew personally would be held until the end of the week. This mail would be packaged up, shrunken if necessary, and shipped to him once a week. All of his mail would have to come through the owl office now and be screened for curses. Howlers would automatically be binned. The rest of mail would be sent to Bloodtooth before it found its way to himself. It was all quite routine for someone of his status according to Bloodtooth, even if it had been tweaked because of his age.

It was at this time that Hephaestus also asked Bloodtooth for directions to the nearest Owl Office so that he could send his letter after he was done here. He was glad to learn that there was an Owl Office next to Eeylops Owl Emporium in Diagon Alley.

The second discovery Bloodtooth had made was that it turned out that the Potters owned the drill company that Vernon Dursley had worked at. Not that the little fact mattered much now, but it was interesting to know all the same. What was annoying to know though, was that Vernon had been stealing money from the company since the day he started there. This explained why there wasn't much income coming from it until recently. Hephaestus didn't know whether to be glad or annoyed there for, that his uncle was already dead. He would have loved to have seen the look on his face as he lost everything.

They then went on to talk about other investments before they decided to call it a day. As it was, it was a very tired and bored pair of cousins that left the bank at lunch time and into the now busy street.

* * *

><p>When they entered the Leaky Cauldron for lunch the place was packed to the brim with wizards of all ages. Thankful they were in luck as they managed to find a free booth in a corner at the back and were quick to sit down.<p>

While Dallas couldn't help but look around at all the different people and listen to snippets of their strange conversations. _"Did you see the last quidditch game–"…"I heard __Gilderoy Lockhart's releasing a new book–"…"Did you here–"_ Hephaestus ignored it all for the most part as he reached for the menu to order.

Well Dallas it seems our cheapest option for lunch is Leaky House Soup, Soup House Leaky, or House Soup Leaky. Which would you prefer to try?" Hephaestus asked dryly. 'Could they be any more original with names?' he couldn't help but ask himself while he waited for Dallas's response.

It didn't take long for Dallas to respond, "Leek? But I hate leek…" His face scrunched up in disgust and despair at the sheer thought.

"Yes well we can't always eat the better things if we want to save money Dallas," was Hephaestus dry response. "How about in exchange for eating one of the meals that are 3 sickles we try this drink called Butterbeer that seems to be so popular?" Hephaestus asked

This seemed to be the deciding point for Dallas as he quickly agreed to try Leaky House Soup, which sounded the most normal of the three choices and a tankard of butterbeer.

When Tom came back with their orders they soon learned that the leaky house soup wasn't all that bad. Although the name really didn't tell you what you were getting. It turned out to be a Scottish classic made of a hearty combination of chicken, leeks, rice and prunes with wedges of warm soda bread spread thick with butter. But it was the butterbeer that was the real treat for the two boys. The foaming tankards of chilled butterbeer.

Hephaestus watched first silently as Dallas took a carful sip of his drink before his eyes seemed to light up and Dallas was quickly drinking it down like he couldn't get enough of it.

So Hephaestus picked up his own drink and first took a small sip before he too was drinking deeply. It was the most delicious thing he'd ever tasted and seemed to chill every bit of him from the inside.

It was after lunch that they went on a tour of the alleyway for Dallas. First making their way to the owl office to send of the two letters. They then made their way around the stores buying Dallas his own supply of ink, quills, packets of parchment and envelopes and a Standard copy book. A few of the more common books that children loved to call his own - including Quidditch Though the Ages and The Tales of Beedle the Bard. They also pick up a few more prank supplies and their final stop was to Sugarplum's Sweet Shop where Harry brought ten more Chocolate Frogs for himself and ten for Dallas – along with his own a Folio Universitas and Folio Triplicus – which the shop owner Mr Sugarplum; a chubby man with sleek brown hair and deep blue eyes, was kind enough to spell Dallas's name onto the front of them in loopy gold script. They both had one of their chlorate frogs there to see what they might get before they head home.

When they reached Harry's room there was already two owls waiting for him with replies from both Fred and Georg and Norma.

* * *

><p>- The description of butterbeer is from the third book.<p>

- The description of the leek soup is from (not real) allrecipes (not real) . (not real) co (not real) . (not real) uk (not real) / (not real) recipe (not real) / (not real) 5473 (not real) / (not real) cock-a-leekie-soup (not real) .aspx (not real) ?o_is (not real) = (not real) LV (If FF lets the link be posted…)

**July 19, 2015:**

Yeah this chapter just needs to be post. End of story. But I'm happy to say that I have made a start to chapter eight. Heres hoping I don't get too stuck with it. Please give me some reviews, it helps me to feel better about my writing and helps to motivate me.

P.S. As of the next chapter I will simply refer to Harry and Dudley as Hephaestus and Dallas because its becoming more than a little confusing otherwise.


	10. Chapter Eight

So here is another chapter complete. It ended up being a lot quicker to write because it flowed better to use some parts from the fanfiction that inspired this one. Mind you, I really hope to have less reason to do so as this story moves forward. But well, the world that I want to use for Knockturn Alley, dark magic and possible a few other things was created by Raining Ink. So I have no doubt that there will be parts of her story that I will use through out this story. I will however continue to give credit where due.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter Eight<strong>

Another year passed much the same as the ones before, with a few exceptions. When Dudley or as he prefer Dallas – unless in ear shot of muggles – and Harry or Hephaestus – again his now preferred name – had gotten back from their trip to the Diagon Alley there had been two owls waiting for them from the Fred and George and Norma. The Twins had at first led the letter in such a way that Hephaestus had thought that he might have lost his chance at being friends with them. But then the letter had quickly changed going on to praise Dallas and himself for tricking them so well. Norma's letter had been just as promising. Laughing at the joke and stating that she still wanted to be his friend. Hephaestus and Dallas then continued to correspond with letters but had yet to have been able to meet again with either. Not that Hephaestus was sure if he would ever want to meet the Twins' mother Molly. Not after that first impression. It was something that he fully admitted to himself – that he had been putting meeting her off as long as possible. The two cousins did however send the twins some birthday gifts on the first of April, which consisted of several chocolate frogs and loads of pranks from both sides. They also sent gifts to Norma for her birthday on the third of April, which consisted of several book in defense and a muggle fashion book to practice her metamorphic ability. They in turn had sent Dallas well wishes on his birthday but requested that they be allowed to give him his gifts when they next met in the holidays.

Letters and gifts aside, within the first few months of the past year Dallas lost all his extra weight and was now a normal weight for a boy his age and height. That was to be expected though. No the somewhat unexpected difference was his grades. With Hephaestus help he went from having one of the lowest grade averages to be in the top of the year threes. So much so, that by halfway through the year Hephaestus helped to convince the teachers to put Dallas up a grade to year four. That way he hoped to speed his cousin's education along. It helped that they had discovered a potion you could take once a day that would allow you retain large quantities of information at a much faster pace. It wasn't cheap however, so it was only Dallas that used it once a week on the weekend and then speed studied for most of that day. Hephaestus on the other hand passed his sixth year on his own merit alone.

They also signed up for the school cooking club that year to go along with their many other activities. All of which they had come a long way in. But Hephaestus had now finished his sixth year and came to a dilemma. Did he do his seventh year at the local Secondary School or did he apply for home schooling? It would be easier if he home schooled himself and had the work mailed to them. But if he did Mrs Ranch would have to be notified and there is no way she would allow it. She didn't even realise that he had just completed his sixth year. She was under the idea that both Dallas and himself had just competed their third year like all the other children their age. And then there was Dallas to add into any of his plans.

Hephaestus was pacing his room in deep thought, while Dallas watched from the arm chair and calmly patted Elfrida who was curled up in his lap. Hephaestus would stop every once in a while as if he had an idea or had made a decision, before he would begin all over again.

Dallas who was beginning to feel dizzy just watching his cousin had had enough. "Why don't we leave?" He finally asked as he patted Elfrida to try and calm himself.

Hephaestus stopped his pacing and turned to look at Dallas, "And go where?" He asked not completely dismissing the idea.

"I don't know. Surely there is somewhere in the Wizardry world we can go? We can both finish our muggle schooling by ourselves," he exclaimed. "Well you can help me…" he added sheepishly, "And we will finally be where we belong." He finished with a large dreamy grin on his face.

Hephaestus seemed to stop and think as he really considered it. "Fine," he eventually said, "Tommorow we'll go and look in Diagon Alley and see what we can find out.

"**Finally"** Elfrida hissed, **"You were making me dizzy just watching you,"** she whined.

* * *

><p>So the following day they got up early and made their way to Diagon Alley like they had many times before in the last year. But it was while asking Tom at the Leaky Cauldron that they learn how strange their questions were if Toms look as anything to go by. So making up a lie about asking for a school project, they made a quick retreat to Diagon Alley where they further retreated to a seedy little second-hand shop. It wasn't their first choice of shopping venue, but it was the least crowded store in the alley. The shop was so crammed full of junk that customers had to weave their way through the stacks, sometimes even climbing over furniture and trunks to get to other parts of the store.<p>

Eventually, Hephaestus in his curiosity started looking through a bin of old books in the back of the store. He eventually found a battered copy of _Charms for Charmers_, which had a great selection of appearance-altering and glamour charms for people who wanted to "woo that special someone."

So before he went to cash register, Hephaestus decided to try out some of the charms just to make sure the old woman at the cash register wouldn't recognize his face. He stood in the most cramped, abandoned corner of the store behind a broken grandfather clock, facing a cracked wall-mounted mirror. Half an hour later, feeling extremely self-conscious, Hephaestus emerged. His hair had been lengthened about six inches so that it hung over his forehead and around his face in a wild mess. His nose was more aquiline, and his signature ice blue eyes were a muddy brown. Hephaestus had tried to change the shape of his face as well, but he couldn't seem to get the hang of it. But to be further safe, he flipped further through the book until he found the incantation _Inmemorse for_ spell that _the book_ had called an 'unmemorable charm.' It worked sort of like a notice-me-not spell. The book had recommended it for covering up pimples or scars, but Hephaestus could tell by the burning tingle he felt all over his face that it worked over larger areas as well. Unlike the notice-me-not spell, this one didn't prevent others from becoming aware of his presence. Instead, it altered their perception of his face, causing his features to slip from memory almost as soon as a person registered them. Someone who looked at him would see that he was a child and what he looked like, but they wouldn't be able to hold onto the idea for even a second at a time.

The shop lady checked him out without commenting, so Hephaestus decided it wouldn't draw too much attention to try and ask a few questions.

"I'm looking for a place to stay at," he said. "Do you know of a place around here?"

The old woman blinked pale blue eyes and bared all three of her teeth at him. "Cauldron's right down the end of the street," she wheezed. "Only place in Diagon for a bed and a cuppa."

Harry shoved his purchases into his bag. "I had a falling out with the owner," he lied. "I'm not welcome there anymore, so I'm looking for another inn."

The crone glared knowingly at him. "Two inns in Knockturn," she said after a moment. "There's the Magna, that's a place for posh sorts. Bad sorts…but posh. Don't imagine they'd let you sweep the stoop." She laughed. "Only other inn's the Doxy Closet. Far end of Knockturn Alley. Cheap. Not too dirty. Still…probably not what you're looking for."

"It sounds fine," said Harry. Why did the old woman seem so amused? "Can I get directions?"

"You go down Knockturn Alley, kid," she said, still chortling. "Keep walking 'til you get almost to the end, and turn right down Daemon Lane. It's got a board with a doxy on it out front. You can't miss it."

Thankful Dallas had the forethought to meet up with Hephaestus out front of the shop. Oh though it was all most a near thing seeing as he didn't recognise him.

They decided not to try to find the Doxy Closet that day. They instead went back to the restrooms in the Leaky Cauldron where they applied the same charm to Dallas's face. Although he wore the face of Dudley, and spent the day walking around Diagon Alley as they carefully tried asking people about places people can stay in the Wizardry world.

Unfortunately their endeavors didn't turn up anything new aside from the three inns between Diagon and Knockturn Alley there was also Hog's Head and Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade Village and the Green Dragon, but that was isolated in a small mostly muggle town. And none of the later ones would help the two boys without drawing to much attention from the sounds of it.

So the two boys made one last stop for the day to Luggage for All Occasions and brought two trunks to pack all their belongings into.

It took a while, and much bargaining with the sales clerk, but they eventually left with a trunk each that could be shrunk down to the size of an old three-pence coin and would always only weigh as much as one. They had one regular compartment, one expanded compartment with an undetectable extension charm on it, a _secret_ expanded compartment in a hidden draw in the lid, and another _heavily_ expanded compartment that had been set up as a potions lab and study space. They had four locks and five keys – one key for each lock and the fifth to make it grow or shrink without the use of a wand. They also bought a simple satchel each with an undetectable extension charm and a feather light charm so that they wouldn't get heavy.

Pleased at least with their new trucks and bags but exhausted from the day. They made their way back to Wools Orphanage for one last night.

* * *

><p>Hephaestus spent the morning studying <em>Charms for Charmers<em>. He didn't cast the spells, but he memorized the words and the wand movements for everything that looked useful. Hephaestus suspected that the spells in the book weren't exactly ethical, but he thought they were all the more intriguing for it. He didn't plan to woo anyone anytime soon, but he could imagine a variety of other uses for the charms. In addition to basic glamour charms, the book contained minor compulsion spells – 'to get your sweetheart on the right track' – and attraction charms – 'effortless popularity and desirability'. He even found a spell to 'give your eyes a lovely twinkle'. Before they then packed every last item from their rooms into their trunks leaving only the furniture. As tempting as it was keep. They figured that they would either use what they were given or buy a few new pieces as they needed them.

They had thought long and hard about their choices and in the end they decided that they would take their chances at the Doxy Closet in Knockturn Alley. They weren't sure if it was the best choice but in the end it seemed to be the only choice available. Sure Dallas had his Aunt's house. But it was in a muggle area, and two little boys living alone in any part of the Muggle world was bound to draw attention to them. And as frustrating as it was, the Wizardry world didn't seem to understand the concept of magical orphanages or perhaps felt they had no need for them. More than likely if you were an orphan in the Wizardry world you simply went and lived with your next of kin and unfortunately that didn't help them. They might have tried to stay in the Leaky Cauldron if hadn't been made abundantly clear to them how strange it would be seen as. As for the two Inns in Hogsmeade Village, well they didn't know anything about the place. So that was also out and it was the same for the Green Dragon. And the old woman had made it clear that they wouldn't be seen in Magna. So that really only left the Doxy Closet or the street. Decisions, decisions… they were so hard to make.

That being said, as one last good-bye to the orphanage and all the occupants they set off one last grand series of pranks. It also helped to create a diversion while they snuck into the filing room and stole away any paper proof of them ever being there and made a quick retreat. It wouldn't vanish any of the school records but it was still something.

* * *

><p>One bus ride later and the two cousins stopped for a late lunch in the Cauldron before making their way to the restroom where Hephaestus applied the unmemorable charm to both of their faces. Better to be safe than sorry when neither of them had any idea what to expect from Knockturn Alley. So with the charm applied they set off to find the Doxy.<p>

Turning down Knockturn Alley, the first thing that they noticed was how dingy the alleyway seemed. It looked to be made up entirely of shops devoted to the Dark Arts. The one on left, Borgin and Burkes, looked like the largest, but opposite was a nasty window display of shrunken heads and, two doors down, a large cage was alive with gigantic black spiders. Two shabby-looking wizards were watching them from the shadow of a doorway, muttering to each other. Feeling jumpy, Hephaestus pulled up the hood of his cloak. Dallas followed suit. They set off, trying not to draw attention and hoping against hope that the Doxy was okay.

"Not lost are you, my dears?" said a voice in Dallas's ear, making him jump.

An aged witch stood in front of them, holding a tray of what looked horribly like whole human fingernails. She leered at the two of them, showing mossy teeth. Both boys backed away.

"I'm fine, thanks," Dallas said. "I'm just —"

"We were leaving," Hephaestus cut in, "Thank you," He grabbed his cousin's hand and pulled him further down the street. He could feel the woman's eyes following them.

They had gone only a few yards before a heavy hand on each of their shoulder stopped them. Dallas seemed to be frozen on the spot with fear, while Hephaestus turned to see three rough-looking men dressed head to toe in dark gray robes. His heart seemed to pause in his chest. He could barely make out their faces under their low hoods, but he couldn't mistake the sinister feeling that seemed to be a part of their very presence. One of the men held the chain of some sort of creature that looked like a hairless wolf with red eyes.

"You're in the wrong place, kids," rumbled the one who had grabbed his shoulder. "Your kind isn't welcome here."

The wolf-like creature was growling low in its throat, and Hephaestus couldn't help but notice the long strands of saliva hanging from its yellow fangs. Hephaestus swallowed out of habit. His mouth was completely dry. A couple of hard-eyed hags had stopped to watch the confrontation, including the one from earlier. Hephaestus didn't know how to handle this. How would the type of person who would be welcomed in Knockturn Alley deal with this?

The image of Mrs Ranch sneering down at him popped into his mind. Knowing that he would hate himself for this later, Hephaestus drew himself up to his full height – wishing as he did so that he was perhaps older and there for taller – and said in a cold, controlled voice, "I beg your pardon? Just what _kind_ do you think I am?"

The man didn't seem to be put off by Harry's show of confidence – no surprise really. One of his companions hissed through his teeth and whispered, "…probably a couple of rich daddies boys on a dare, Rukus. Best to do them in quick like."

Hephaestus glared at the man in perfect imitation of the look that Mrs Ranch always reserved for Dallas and him. "What a clever observation!" he jeered. "Do you think a rich parent would let any child my age anywhere near Knockturn Alley? Or do you think my cousin and I are a special case?"

The one called Rukus leaned back on his heels, studying Hephaestus. "We keep track of who comes and goes in the alley. It's our job to determine whether unfamiliar people might be…unwanted. Who are you, and what business do you have here?"

"My name," said Hephaestus with an arrogance he didn't feel, "is Hephaestus Peverell and my cousin beside me is Dallas Wilkes. Our business is, quite frankly, none of your business. We are on our way to the Doxy Closet for the evening."

The one holding the wolf-thing's chain snickered at this, and Rukus raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you a little young for that?" he asked.

This question was confusing. "I'm older than I look," Hephaestus said, "and I'm certainly old enough to rent a room if I want."

"I suppose so," said Rukus. "Fine, kid. You go on then, but the rest of the watch will be on the lookout for you two, so don't try anything."

With that, the three men were gone, and the small group of people who had stopped to watch dispersed. Hephaestus had to take several deep breaths before he walked on, Dallas shakerly following after him.

When Hephaestus turned down Daemon Lane, he spotted the Doxy Closet immediately. It was a tall, narrow building that had been painted pitch black, and a large signboard with a crudely drawn picture of a doxy was propped against the front wall. The most remarkable feature of the building, however, was the colour of the windows. The two cousins stared. They were large, there were many of them, and they were all a very feminine shade of pink. The light coming through these windows from the inside stained the stores on either side of it, and the street in front of it, a delicate rose.

Hephaestus felt his face heat up as he realized something else about their destination. The Doxy Closet was obviously a whorehouse. Suddenly, the comments of the Knockturn watch made sense. Raucous laughter and playful screams sounded from inside, and a couple of scantily-robed witches called to passerby. Hephaestus only considered turning back for a moment before he realized that they really had nowhere else to go.

* * *

><p>The inside of the Doxy Closet was, thankfully, much more tasteful than the outside, and if they ignored what was going on in the odd dark corner of the common area, Hephaestus could almost imagine that it was nothing more than an inn. A cheerful fire was burning in the grate, spelled not to give off any heat during the summer, and several wizards – a couple of them actually looked like vampires – were sitting around a long table and drinking from heavy mugs. Hephaestus was just looking for someone to ask about a room, when a heavily made-up woman in revealing green satin robes swept up to them. Her eyes smouldered as she laid a hand on his arm. "What can I do for you, love?"<p>

Hephaestus felt his blush return full force. "I just…errr, that is to say…my cousin and I need a room for the night," he stuttered.

"Sure thing, honey," she replied with a dazzling smile. "Come with me."

"Just a room, though," Dallas blurted out. "W-we don't want…anything else." Hephaestus wondered if he could actually blush hard enough to break through the _inmemores _charm.

The woman laughed. "I knew what you meant, love. About half our business is just the inn, though most folk know to come for that during the daytime. It gets sort of loud at night."

Hephaestus didn't trust himself or Dallas to speak, so he followed her in silence – pulling Dallas along with a shushing motion – to a tall cabinet behind the bar. She opened it to reveal a number of room keys pegged to a board. "You'll want one of the more remote rooms, I guess?" she asked. "There's not so much coming and going up on the attic level, so you can have a nice sleep."

"That sounds fine Ms…"

"Aren't you sweet!" she squealed then patted him on the cheek. "It's just Cora, honey. No need for the miss bit." She handed him a key. "Room 413. All the way up the stairs, then right. It's five galleons a night each, and if you're up by six you can have a nice breakfast with us down here."

Hephaestus thanked her and paid for the night, then headed upstairs to his room. Room 413 was somewhat small, and the ceiling sloped with the roofline. It was only basically furnished with two single-sized beds, a chest of drawers to one wall, and a side table and a lamp between the two beds. The windows, thankfully, were not pink from the inside. Hephaestus enlarged his trunk and slid it into place at the foot of the far bed. He cast a standard locking charm on the door, making a mental note to learn stronger spells soon, and then stripped out of his clothes. He could hear more than see Dallas doing the same.

After showering in the tiny bathroom and putting on a too-big Westham tee shirt that Dallas had given him as a Christmas gift last year, Harry sat on the edge of the bed and looked around. It was cramped, dusty, and loud. But, it was looked better than many thing he had ever had at Wools Orphanage – even if he now had to share, and they could use as much magic as he wanted to in order to make it more liveable. He would look up how to perform a silencing ward and a few cleaning spells tomorrow. Most importantly, Hephaestus realized, no one here expected anything of them. They could come and go as he pleased, and nobody would care. Here they were Hephaestus Peverell and Dallas Wilkes, a pair of wizard children. Smiling, he looked to Dallas before he lay back and pulled the sheets up over himself for a nap.

* * *

><p>It was the best sleep he had had in a long time. Dallas and Hephaestus even somehow slept through the whole night. And Hephaestus would have gladly slept through his first day of freedom if he hadn't been awakened by a knock on their door just before six o'clock in the morning. Groaning as he rolled out of bed and threw the robes he had worn yesterday on over his nightshirt. He could see that Dallas had simply rolled over and pulled his pillow over his head. He opened the door half way through an impatient second knocking, and was momentarily disoriented to see a petite blonde girl wearing a wispy purple something that looked to him like a belly dancer's outfit with a cape. She couldn't have been more than a sixteen years old or so. And he couldn't help but notice, even in his sleep-deprived state, that the girl resembled a model…just with more risqué clothing.<p>

"Like what you see?" asked the girl, raising an eyebrow.

"It's really early," Hephaestus said stupidly. He could already feel a blush coming on.

The girl giggled. "Cora's right. You are kind of cute. You and your cousin wanna come downstairs for breakfast? Cora reckoned you looked like you could use a bite to eat."

As if in answer to the question, Hephaestus's stomach gurgled loudly. The girl laughed again and said, "I guess that means yes. I'm Bette, by the way. Bette Simon."

"I'm Hephaestus Peverell and that lump over there," He jabbed with his thumb over his sholder, "is my cousin Dallas Wilkes," He introduced himself and Dallas.

"Nice to meet you," she made her way to Dallas's bed, "But we need to go now if we are going to get breakfast," She reached forward as is to rouse Dallas.

"Breakfast!" Dallas shouted as he suddenly shot up in bed and proceeded to headbutt Bette in the forehead and knock her on her back from the force.

Hephaestus winced as he watched it all in what felt like slow motion.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Dallas cried panicky. "I can't believe I did that! I wasn't fully awake! Please say you're alright." He cried as he jumped out of bed to try and help her up.

Bette propped herself up on her elbow, and then reached up to touch her forehead. She winced. "Its okay. Accidents happen." She tried to reassure the boy.

"Are you okay?" Hephaestus asked.

"I think s…Am I bleeding?" she asked, feeling her forehead. "It really hurts."

"No, there's no blood," Hephaestus told her. "Do you think you can stand up?"

Hephaestus helped her to her feet and into the bathroom so that she could look at herself in the mirror. Bette winced when she saw the large goose egg developing on her forehead. "It's going to bruise something awful, but maybe Maia can fix it. She's good with things like that."

She sounded annoyed, and Hephaestus couldn't blame her. "Is there any way that we can make it up to you?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Bette. "Come down to breakfast with me and tell Cora why I'm late. She usually won't give latecomers so much as a cuppa, even if we work here."

"Okay," said Hephaestus, enthusiastically. "Just let us get our shoes on, and we'll go down."

Bette laughed. "It's not exactly a formal establishment. No one's going to care if you've got shoes on."

She turned to Dallas as they made their way down the stairs, "I'm Bette by the way. I think you were still asleep when I introduced myself to Hephaestus."

"Oh, I'm Dallas. It's nice to meet you," he said softly.

"Well Dallas, I can't say meeting you has been much fun so far but I'm sure you're a lovely person all the same."

"I really am sorry," Dallas said with a wince as he rubbed his own slightly sore head.

"It's okay. It was an accident. I just hope we can get breakfast," Bette whined. "If you convince Cora to give us breakfast, and I'll consider forgiving you," she joked.

* * *

><p>Cora, it transpired, was the owner of the Doxy Closet, and she was not nearly as difficult to persuade as Bette had implied. She took one look at the girl's head, which was already turning purple, and immediately ran to fetch some bruise salve. She was ready to toss Dallas and Hephaestus out for "brutalizing one of my ladies!" until Bette convinced her that it really had been an accident. Mollified, she dished them each up plates of eggs, bacon, and toast.<p>

"Well, Hephaestus, what brings you and Dallas to Knockturn Alley?" she asked as she watched them eat. She thought that Bette might have a concussion, so she wasn't going to let her out of sight until Maia had taken a look at her, the same for Dallas. "You're a little young to be travelling alone aren't you?"

Hephaestus hesitated for a moment. He knew he could possibly make up a convincing lie but it really wouldn't help them in the long run.

"We're orphans, ma'am," he said. "My parents died when I was a baby, so did Dallas's. Until recently we had been living with family friends."

"Why are you on your own now, then?" she asked curiously.

"They were old and passed away," added Dallas.

"And while we know how to look after ourselves – we currently have nowhere to stay in the wizardry world and we can't go to the muggle one because we don't exist," Hephaestus explained with a sigh, "We tried discreetly to find a place we could buy but we are too young. And Auntie and Uncle apparently lost a lot of money from both of our vaults. Our account manager is only more recently helping us to make more. So we tried to find a place to rent but this was the best we could find short notice without drawing too much attention."

Bette and the few remaining girls that had heard their story were all looking at the two boys with looks of sympathy.

Cora nodded, "Then you'll stay here, lads. You are both far too young to be on your own," she said with a harden resolve, "You said you wanted to rent. I'll let you rent that room for the two of you for 100 galleons a fortnight. And so long as you are up by six each morning you'll get a free breakfast. How old are you lads anyways?"

Hephaestus was gobsmacked and Dallas wasn't doing much better. Doing some quick calculations Hephaestus worked out that if he paid 5 galleons for fourteen nights; it would cost a single person 70 galleons. That meant that 100 galleons a fortnight for two people was a little less than one and a half of the price it would otherwise be.

"We-We'll take it!" Hephaestus all but shouted. He could feel the blush climbing up his face. "I- Dallas was eight on the 23nd of June and I'll be turning eight on the 1st August. Won't people ask why there are children in such a place though?" he felt he had to ask.

Cora shrugged. "You can stay as long as you want. No one comes down here checking for underage wizards, so it's no trouble on my end of things. And if for whatever reason they should we'll say I'm your Aunt and be done with it."

After breakfast, Cora and Bette headed upstairs to bed, leaving the woman called Maia to watch the bar. They slept until the early afternoon – Bette had explained – then worked all night. "You might want to get the hang of doing it this way yourself," she added. "Most of the shops in the alley are only open through the night hours because the aurors know better than to bother us when the watch is out in force. There's nothing going on during the day."

Maia was a middle aged woman going gray at the temples. Harry didn't think she was much to look at, especially compared to the nymph-like Bette, but she was eager to have their company to help keep her awake. "I hate it when it's my turn to work day shift," she complained. "I'm run off my feet from all the night work. Can't seem to keep from drowsing where I stand."

Hephaestus quickly realized that Maia was a willing source of information, so he and Dallas spent the majority of the morning at the bar, drinking tea and pelting her with questions. They learned that the last time the Ministry aurors had invaded Knockturn at nighttime had been twenty years previously. "Still licking their wounds from that disaster they are…. Not smart to go up against Knockturners on our own turf. And it was a Wednesday, so the Dark wizards were all over the place," she laughed heartily. "Those aurors didn't know what hit 'em."

Dallas didn't understand why it being Wednesday would make a difference, and he said as much. Hephaestus didn't really either be he remained silent since Dallas had already asked. "Oh, Wednesday and Friday, those are their nights for visiting the alley," Maia explained patiently. "The Dark ones that is. The rest of the time it's mostly just the regulars: dark users, criminals, ordinary folk who are down on their luck, and all the other people who like to live on the edge of proper society."

Their confusion must have shown on their faces because Maia leaned down and spoke in a kindly voice. "Not the Knockturn sort, were they? Your carers?"

They nodded in agreement. "Well," said Maia, "don't let the Dark wizards catch you glomming them together with the rest of the Knockturn crowd. They'd be dead offended about it. Just because somebody uses dark magic doesn't mean they're up to snuff on all the traditions and history of it."

"What do you mean?" Dallas asked.

Maia seemed to find his ignorance endearing rather than annoying, so Hephaestus and Dallas got more information than even Hephaestus felt he could handle all at one time. Knockturn Alley wasn't devoted primarily to the Dark side of magic, just to the illegal side of it. But the Dark tended to be a part of that, and since many of the Dark families were "well-off on the galleon end of things" the Knockturners made sure to set aside their best wares for the two nights a week that most Dark wizards chose to visit. "Not that they come here," said Maia. "Whoring goes against their beliefs, so they stay at the Magna instead."

Hephaestus didn't see any reason to point out that prostitution wasn't something he thought very highly of either. Maia and the other ladies seemed sweet enough and Cora had just given them a roof to live under.

"So it's their family and their history that makes them Dark?" Dallas asked. "What about people who use dark magic but don't have anything to do with the traditions?"

"Oh, there's a lot like that. Most of us in Knockturn as a matter of fact. The Dark wizards don't have much respect for that kind, but they've got a sort of don't-ask-don't-tell policy with everyone down here. After all, there's only maybe two or three hundred true Dark wizards left in all of Britain, and the Ministry's been out for their blood for millennia. They can't be choosy when it comes to acquaintances."

At lunchtime, Hephaestus and Dallas wandered down Daemon Lane to a pub that, according to Maia, served "the best steak and stilton pie this side of the afterlife." The dingy little pub was uninspiringly named 'The Pub', and it looked like it hadn't seen life in about a hundred years. There were only three shady-looking customers inside apart from Dallas and Hephaestus himself. It went up a long ways in his estimation when the crusty barkeep delivered a chunk of steaming pie to each of them. It was the best thing Hephaestus had ever put in his mouth and Dallas seemed to agree.

He was just reaching for the last crumb of his crust when a certain great grey owl landed next to his plate and snatched it up. "Hey!" he said with a laugh. "Get your own lunch Errol."

The owl hooted cheekily and held out its leg. Harry took the letter from the Twins and was already thinking about what to tell them as he unrolled it.

_Dear Hephaestus and Dallas,_

_How have you been? We were thinking with a another school year over and your birthday, coming up Hephaestus and Dallas's already passed, that maybe we could finally meet up again and celebrate both of your birthdays together._

_From your friends,_

_Gred and Forge_

* * *

><p>- Apparently I had previously decided that Tonks birthday is on the 3rd of April. Just to give it a date. No idea when though. But it was in my notes.<p> 


	11. New Author's Note

**_New_ Author's Note (This will be replaced when I get to the next chapter)**

So, its been so long, since the last update and I just wanted to reassure you all that this isn't a dead or abandoned story.

Sigh... I've just been struggling with things from my portable hard-drive not working, to just being motivated to write and everything between.

I have half of chapter 9 done. But my mind keeps pulling a blank and if its not blank I'm largely distracted by that mistake I was so certain was there. Even if you lovely readers said there isn't 1. And I thank you for your reassurances. But there really is... XD I finally re-found it at the start of chapter 4. I suppose if you want to find it, its to do with Harry/Hephaestus skipping a year of school. I meant to write grade 5 but it somehow became grade 6... so yeah, it sort of effects the whole story...

...its so far back that now I'm sort of struggling with how to deal with it. Its a simple enough mistake to fix but it also effects the whole timeline that I have written so far. I'm trying desperately to decide. Do I simply make it that he did so well on the test that he skipped two years? (I really feel like that is pushing ir more then I already have been) Or do I go back and put in a whole other year of dialog. As briefly as I can...

Either way, its somewhat annoying... And I really don't know how I did that. A specially when I have all my notes... maybe even too many notes.

Wish me luck and if you have a suggestion, I'm happy to listen. Getting your reviews is what really makes it worth trying to share the story. So thank you. :)


	12. Chapter Nine

**A/N:** This isn't the best chapter. And I warn you now that that has not been near as proof read as other chapters and so I have likely missed more mistakes or placed wrong words. But I have been sitting on this chapter for so long, that I just wanted to post it now and be done already.

After all that waiting, thinking, loss of thought and inspiration from stressing over a minor detail. I have decided that for now, unless I get some big complaint or suddenly want to deal with it, that I will listen to all of you who reviewed and just ignore it.

So here is the next chapter. I really hope it's okay. Otherwise I think I might cry. I enjoy writing because I want to read the story as much as all of you do. But it is also reading your reviews and hearing your thoughts that keep me writing more. :) So thank you for all your kind reviews. It really means a lot to me.

On a side note, I reserve the right to turn around and fix, change or even rewrite this chapter if I should feel like it in the future.

**Chapter Nine**

Thanking Errol, Hephaestus promised that they would send a reply soon. So they made their way back to the Doxy Closet to fetch supplies to respond. It was of cause then that Dallas reminded Hephaestus that they were both currently out of parchment. This was no big deal because they could easily go and get more in Diagon Alley but of cause, he then had to wonder if there was a more discreet entrance in and out of Knockturn Alley that wouldn't draw as much attention. No doubt, it would cause problems if people started to see children regularly entering and exiting Knockturn as they pleased.

"Maia?" he asked when they came downstairs, "Do you know of another way out of that we could get out of Knockturn Alley? So that we wouldn't draw as much attention during the day."

Maia was now in front of the heatless common room fire, playing solitaire with a singed deck of exploding snap cards. She glanced up at them with their bags on their shoulders to go out, "The best way is to leave is through Knockturn's back entrance. Tell 'em I sent you and they won't give you any trouble."

Knockturn Alley had a back entrance that was permanently guarded by members of the watch, who, according to Maia, were paid by the shop keepers to deter meddling Ministry officials. Judging by Maia's description, Hephaestus suspected that it was more of an unofficial entrance than something known to the public at large. She sketched him a rough map on the corner of a copy of yesterday's _Daily Prophet_ so that they could find their way.

They found the exit behind a garish purple shop called Morag's Mysteries. The gray stone wall behind the store was outfitted with a metal door guarded by two burly wizards in gray robes. He explained that Maia had sent them, and they were waved through the door without further questions. He wondered if they were friends of hers, or if they were patrons of the Doxy Closet.

Both boys were shocked that the door led, not into another street as they had expected, but into a sort of vertical concrete tube with a rusty ladder on the wall of it leading upwards. Shrugging his shoulders at the bizarreness of it, Hephaestus began to climb. Leading Dallas to follow behind him. After about a minute, they found themselves emerging from an incongruous iron manhole cover at the end of a deserted back alley.

Hephaestus could have sworn that Knockturn Alley was at the same level as Diagon Alley, which was on a level with Charring Cross Road. Why did they have to climb to get here? One of the quirks of the wizarding world, he decided as he brushed dust and dirt from his robes. The back alley, which smelled strongly of motor oil and cannabis, must have been invisible to muggles, because many of them were passing by on the sidewalk just a few yards away without ever looking in their direction. As it turned out the back entrance was just around the block from the Leaky Cauldron entrance.

* * *

><p>The first thing they did in Diagon was buying more ink and parchment before they sat down and each enjoyed a single jelly slug ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.<p>

To Gred and Forge

We have so much to share with you. Dallas and I now have a new place of residents in the Wizardy world. It's nothing special, just one room and a small bathroom that we share. But we are finally away from the muggles. We will be continuing our muggle schooling by mail correspondence. I still hope to have most of it complete by the time we get our Hogwarts letters. Dallas will likely finish sometime after myself.

We would love to meet up, just send us a date and time and we will meet you both in Diagon Alley. May we also invite our friend Norma?

Your friends,

Hephaestus and Dallas

With their letter written, they were quick to have it sent and then proceeded to make their way to the bank to meet with Bloodtooth.

* * *

><p>"What can I assist you with both today?" Bloodtooth asked as they sat down in their seat.<p>

Hephaestus proceeded to explain how they had left the orphanage in order to continue their schooling as home schooled and that they were now renting a room at the Doxy Closet for 100 galleons a fortnight. And that they would like to set up an automatic transfer into Cora's accounts each fortnight and would also like to set up a PO box in muggle world in order to receive any school work. As well as to apply for said home schooling.

Two hours later after also talking about business, profits and shares, they left Bloodtooths office with a key for a PO box close to the Leaky Cauldron, their rent payments set up and the schooling applied for. It was nice to know that they were already beginning to make a reasonable profit for both the Peverell and Wilkes names. Bloodtooth had also been able to procure a portion of five percent in the Comet Trading Company as well as the Nimbus Racing Broom Company. But perhaps the best part was that they were finally beginning to see the results from suing all of the people who add either profited from the Harry Potter name or published false information about 'Harry Potter'. It was however decided that the Comic Relief that Albus Dumbledore had set up in Harry Potters name would remain without any repercussions. Well unless you count some of the funds that Dumbledore had been sifting to his accounts for personal use. It had taken so long because both Albus Dumbledore and the Minister of Magic, Millicent Bagnold had tried to fight it for their own reasons. Although some of the public was still protesting, most had accepted it and a portion of the public now had less trust in Albus Dumbledore.

* * *

><p>It was while leaving the bank that Hephaestus was knocked to the ground by another young boy their age. The boy was short and slightly chubby, with blond hair that framed a round-face with soft hazel brown eyes. He was also somewhat buck-toothed.<p>

"I- I'm so-sorry," he stuttered fretfully as he glanced around looking for someone. He seemed to expect some sort of reparation for his clumsiness at any second. He helped Hephaestus to his feet, "I- I didn't m-mean too kn-knock y-yo-you over," he stuttered ever second word. Still looking for an attack.

Hephaestus smiled softly, "That's okay. Accidents happen," He dusted himself off and adjusted his robs, "Besides, I am also at fault for not paying attention." He held out his hand, "I'm Hephaestus Peverell."

The nervous boy seemed to freeze with shock at the friendly acceptance but soon shook Hephaestus's hand, "Ne-Neville Longbottom," he stuttered. Hephaestus was so shocked by the last name that he almost didn't respond. As is mind instantly went back to the history books that had motioned his godmother and her family. _'This was his god-brother? What were the chances…?'_ He knew he couldn't tell him but had to at least try to befriend him.

"It's nice to meet you Mr Longbottom. May I call you Neville?" he asked to be sure.

"Su-sure. M-may I call you He-Hephaestus?" he asked shyly.

"Of cause you may Neville. And this," he gestured to his right, "Is my cousin Dallas Wilkes."

Dallas stepped forward slightly and held out his hand, "It's nice to meet you. Please, call me Dallas."

Neville seemed to be almost overwhelmed as he shook Dallas's hand, "It is a p-pleasure t-to meet you. Pe-please call m-me Neville."

Hephaestus was about to speak again when there was a screech from across the room, "Neville! There you are!" a formidable looking witch shouted as she stormed across the room to Neville who had begun to shake ever so slightly. She was tall, bony thin and severe looking with graying-mouse brown hair pulled back in a tight bun and the same hazel brown eyes as Neville. But the most noticeable thing about her was the wide brimmed hat she wore with a stuffed vulture on it and the dark green dress robes with the bright red handbag she carried. "Don't dilly-dally boy. I don't have all day to wait for you!" She grabbed him by the shoulder, slightly more harshly then was necessary if Neville's flinch was anything to go by. "Now say good-bye."

"I-I have to go. I-it was ni-nice meeting you b-both," he shyly waved his hand as he was pulled away by the older witch. Neville's grandmother Lady Augusta Longbottom, if he was right.

"Good-bye for now Neville," Hephaestus called out, "We'll be sure to write you a letter sometime soon," he added as they both waved the shy boy good-bye. They received a somewhat shocked glace back over his shoulder from Neville and another timid wave good-bye before Neville was pulled completely from sight.

The two cousins were then quick to finally leave the bank and begin their shopping trip to buy a few things for their room. They first went to Floo-Pow to buy two pouches of floo powder – always good to have some on them encase they need to go somewhere.

Next they went to Mornsong Furniturings which sold an abundance of almost every kind of living appliances. As soon as they entered they were swamped by the sight of messily stacked furniture of every kind. They were so distracted by the sight that they didn't notice when the shop attendant had appeared.

"Welcome to Mornsong Furniturings. My names Maralen, can I help you?" a lyrical voice asked from their left making the two boys jump. Turning towards the voice they were greeted by the sight of a thin alluring woman of fair complexion. She had long straight black hair and dark eyes.

"Yes please, we would like to buy a few things for our home," Hephaestus vaguely explained, after getting over his shock, "but we don't really know where to start," he said as he glanced at the labyrinth before them.

"Well, what are you after?" Maralen asked.

They then spent a fair amount of time go around to different parts of the store and comparing different products as Maralen told them about each item. They left the store sometime later with an oak icebox that was charmed with permanent preservation charms to prevent any food in it from going off. A matching kitchen bench; with 2 large cabinet doors underneath and one smaller cabinet in the middle that had two draws above it and two shelfs above the bench and a small black stove charmed to never start a house fire. A small oak table and two matching chairs. A beautiful classic gramophone with a dark wooden base and a golden pavilion with graceful and intricate designs caved into it. It was charmed so that the turntable and tone-arm will continue to replay the record until you turn it off. They also brought a silver wizard wireless radio and two alarm clocks. They didn't really need two right now but they figured that it might be good once they were at Hogwarts in a few years. Now you may ask how they were going to fit this into their small room, well that's what their next stop, the book store was for. So that they could find a way to expand the room just enough.

They made a quick stop to Madame Glossy's Finest Cleaning Products where they brought several different cleaning products before they made their way to Flourish and Blotts where it became abundantly easy for them to get lost in the books. While Hephaestus looked at for both the books they need and ones he wanted, Dallas got lost in the comics and children's books. Before they knew it, it was close to six o'clock at night and the store manager was telling them that it was time for last purchases.

When finally, they left the store Hephaestus and Dallas now owned a copy of Volume one of Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles by Wilhelm Wigworthy – which was a reasonably newly published book that had only came out at the end of last year. It wasn't so much that they needed it, as Hephaestus both wanted a laugh and wanted to understand what most wizards thought about muggles. They also purchased a copy of Cooking the Muggle Way and Ancient Runes Made Easy by Laurenzoo, as well as a few others.

They were then quick to leave Diagon Alley and made their way into London. For a treat they had decided that they would have dinner in London followed by a movie. By the time the movie had finished it was ten o'clock at night and they discreetly made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron.

* * *

><p>Hephaestus and Dallas were surprised to find that Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley were very different places at night. Hooded and cloaked, they exited the Leaky Cauldron at ten-thirty at night and stepped out into a mostly empty street. Very few lights shone in the windows of Diagon Alley, and those that did were mostly those of small flats above some of the shops. As they walked further along the street the glow from the Leaky Cauldron seemed a vague, weak thing in the distance. The alley looked grimy and bereft without the usual press of bodies. Even if it was brighter for Hephaestus because of the Peverell gift for perfect night vision.<p>

It was something that made everything jump into a clarity for him. Allowing him see into all the darkened corners. But the down side was that it also made everything look a degree different. The colours were a little bit off, all muted and grayer than what he saw in the day time. As though they were being seen through a pair of badly tinted sunglasses. And then there was the flaw of when it became bright too quickly. Turning on a light in a room would cause him to feel a short, sharp stabbing pain in his eyes – well until they adjusted. Although the more this happened the less it seemed to hurt.

When they finally arrived at Knockturn Alley, they had thought for a moment that they had turned down the wrong road. They finally understood what Maia had meant when she told them about Knockturn Alley at night time. Twice as many witches and wizards roamed the street as there seemed to be that day. Most of the stores appeared to be open and doing a good business. The smell of food wafted from vendors' stands, making both boys mouths water and feel like dinner was a lifetime ago. Eerie music floated on the night breeze out of a pub about a hundred meters away, and the reedy voice of an elderly man could be heard crying, "Poisonous toadstools. All varieties. Half-off tonight!"

The further they walked the more surreal Knockturn Alley seemed to become. It was every bit as exotic and new as Diagon Alley had been when they first found it. Most of the stores were open, and yellow light spilled out into the street. It was quieter than Diagon Alley in the day time, but there was still a steady murmur of voices around them. The window displays didn't have the cheerfulness of those they had seen at stores like Flourish and Blotts, but many of them were beautiful in their own ways. Poisoned candles burned with flames in every colour of the rainbow. Ruby and citrine hued fairies fluttered prettily in small glass boxes, and vials of every potion imaginable sparkled in torchlight. An entire herd of real miniature horses ran in circles in one windowsill. And even the things that weren't pretty were…well, interesting at least. Hunks of human hair "plucked by the root" dangled from the apothecary's window, a set of charmed rune knives traced intricate patterns in a pit of sand, and fist-sized blobs of molten wax seemed to be _breathing_ in the front display of Rosemary's Reagents.

But tempting as it was to explore both boys were tired and headed back to the Doxy. They were almost stopped once by a passing wizard but Rukus from the watch stepped in and told the wizard to leave them be. For which they were very thankful for. The Doxy was loud and far more crowed then the night before but thankfully no one bothered them as they made their way to their room.

There was a note on their door for them. It seemed that Cora had taken the time to put up a type of silencing charm on their room for them. But it had a hole in it so that they could hear someone if they knocked on their door. Both were quick to dump their bags in a corner and crawl into bed with the thought of thanking her in the morning.

* * *

><p>The days past by at a relative pace as a routine of sorts began to appear. Which start as it was today with the boys being woken up at ten to six by an insistent knocking at their door – courtesy of Bettie.<p>

As had become normal, Hephaestus was the one to open the door to Bette because Dallas was never so quick to wake up.

"Come on you two, Cora sent me up to get you and I really don't want to miss breakfast," she whined.

"We'll be right there. Why don't you go ahead of us Bette and thank you for waking us," Hephaestus said as he pulled the pillow off of Dallas's head and the blankets to the end of his bed.

Dallas groaned as he tried to curl up for warmth before grumbling and sitting up. Bette giggled as she nodded okay and head down stairs. Not long after the two boys followed her down.

What was not normal today was when everyone in the room yelled "Happy Birthday Hephaestus" as they entered the room.

Hephaestus was left rather shocked and frozen in the doorway because he wasn't expected anything for his birthday since he had never celebrated it with others before now.

Meanwhile Dallas was already sitting down snickering at Hephaestus.

"Well come and sit down!" Cora called, "the food is getting cold."

Still filled with a filling of disbelief, Hephaestus made his way to the only free seat between Betty and Dallas. He was quick to notice that there were a few more choices of food then normal today. Normally it was all rather basic – cereal, eggs, or toast and a glass of pumpkin juice. But today there was also muffins and pancakes and a few other things too.

"Dallas accidently let slip that it was your birthday soon," Betty explained "So we felt we had to do something a little more special."

"A specially when he said that you hadn't really celebrated it much before," Maia added in, "That's just not right."

Hephaestus was more than a little uneven right now and was trying his best to be as small as possible at that moment.

"Thank you"

The breakfast was amazing and filled with childhood stories, a pat on the back or a hug and many well wishes. But thinking that was all, they were just about to get up to leave for the day, thinking the others would all go straight to bed when Cora stopped them.

"It was hard to get them so soon when we found out about your birthday so late but we all chipped in," Cora said as she reached down under the bench for something.

"Now, they're not the best one out there," Said as she kept whatever it was hidden from their view, "but it is considered to be the best for beginners and Betty told me about one the books you have been reading lately. So we really hope you both like them."

She pulled out two identical long, thin packages wrapped in brown paper and placed one in front of each of them.

"We know it's not Dallas's birthday today but it was only a month ago, so we thought we would get 1 for each of you," Cora said with a grin.

Both boys seemed to be frozen in shock at getting a gift.

"Well, aren't you going to open them?" Maia asked.

Within second they were both ripping the paper off.

"A Comet Two Sixty!" Dallas yelled in excitement.

Hephaestus was too busy running his hand along the smooth and shiny padauk handle, it had a long tail of bunched, straight twigs, with bronze stirrups in a fixed position and Comet Two Sixty written in gold near the top.

"Released in 1985, it is said to be extremely versatile and a great first broom," Finally Hephaestus looked up, "Thank you. We really weren't expecting anything."

"I- Thank you. It's not even my birthday, so you really didn't have to…" Dallas mumbled as he ran his hand over the handle.

"Your both welcome. Now, I know it's your birthday and all but I'm ready to drop and I'm sure the girls aren't much better. So we're going to hit the hay but I hope you have a good day," Cora said as she gave them each a hug and began to herd all the girls to bed.

* * *

><p>They had time before they were to meet their friends. So they were currently just wandering aimlessly as they looked at all the stores. They had happily invited both Norma and Neville after they had gotten the okay to their question from the twins to invite anyone they liked. So now they were due to meet with their friends at ten-thirty, outside the Ice Cream Parlour.<p>

But it was also while wandering around that they came across Parkside Lane. It was a branch off from the main Alley and was full of lush green forest and pebble paths with shaded benches here and there. Some areas also opened up into courts, clearings or fields.

How this remained hidden in the middle of London or even fitted, Hephaestus honestly couldn't say. But it did help with one thing. It gave them both the perfect place to practice flying. Provided that they didn't fly too high.

Another thought that came to Hephaestus was possibility that there were more lanes or alleyways that branched off from Diagon Alley or not? But that thought was put on hold for today.

They met a few older boys that they watched play a game of classic gobstone and Jack Stone. The dark haired eleven-year-old with bright grey eyes, named Cedric was kind enough to explain the rules and was about to help them play a game when Hephaestus realised the time.

"Dallas its almost ten-thirty!" He grabbed is cousin's hand and pulled him up from his kneeling position. "I'm really sorry Cedric and it was very nice to meet you and your friends but we really must be going if we are going to meet our friends on time," The thing only stopping him from turning and running was that he knew it would be rude.

"No worries, maybe next time," he held out his hand to shake Hephaestus's, Hephaestus was quick to return the shake, followed by Dallas.

"Til next time, but we really must be going now," Hephaestus said.

"Of cause"

* * *

><p>When they finally got to the Ice Cream Pallor it was twenty to eleven and the twins, Norma and Neville were waiting for them plus a few extra.<p>

"I'm sorry we are late," Hephaestus tried to apologise, "We were exploring and found Parkside Lane and then we met a boy; Cedric Diggory, and a few of his friends. He was kind enough to teach us how to play gobstone but we lost track of time. We really are sorry for making you wait." Hephaestus could only grimace and Dallas wasn't much better.

That was until the twins started laughing.

"No worries there, mate," They started their usual ping-pong speech.

"Yeah, it's your birthday," Fred continued.

"And from the sounds of it you were having fun,"

"So don't worry,"

"Besides it was only ten minutes." They each patted Hephaestus and Dallas on the shoulder in reassurance.

Norma was the next to speech. "What they said. It's your birthday and it wasn't that long anyways," She wrapped them each in a quick hug, "It's good to see you both again. And even if it was over a month ago, happy birthday Dallas."

Neville shyly nodded his head as he nervously rubbed his hands together, "I-it's fine and happy birthday to you both."

Suddenly it came to Hephaestus, it was Neville's birthday two days ago! The twins looked like they were about to speak when Hephaestus spoke up.

"I'm so sorry Neville! I almost forgot." He could feel the slight warmth over his cheeks, "I know it was two days ago but Happy Birthday Neville." Everyone else at the table seemed shocked by this news.

"It was your birthday too Nev?" The twins asked in shock with the look of a kicked puppy.

"Well then, its decided. We'll just have to celebrate your birthday too," one said, suddenly they looked like Christmas had come early and the three unknown red haired guest looked worried.

"Oh, I can't wait. What a day this will be. Three birthdays in one!" They grinned. Completely sure of themselves.

"What they said," was all Norma could get out between her hands, which was trying to stifle her giggles with.

Neville on the other hand looked to be completely shell-shocked and unable to respond at all.

"I agree that we need to celebrate Neville's birthday too but may I ask. Who are the other three red heads?" Dalla's asked.

The twins turned to each other with a look of shock, "Ah, Brother mine. I knew we were forgetting something," Fred begin.

"Yes, Brother mine. I absolutely agree with you,"

They turned to face Hephaestus and Dallas. "Allow us to introduce our older brothers," they said together.

"William Arthur Weasley. Better known as Bill, he's the oldest of our lot what with being born on the 29 November, 1970," started Fred. Bill was tall and thin, with the Weasley red hair that was slightly longer than normal but not enough to tie back.

"He's here because little Ronniekins tried to get us in trouble again. So we couldn't be trusted on our own," explained George.

"Next is our second oldest brother Charles Septimus Weasley. Better known as Charlie, he was born on 12 December, 1972." Charlie was short and stocky with the usual red hair at a more normal length.

"He was told to help Bill watch us,"

"And last but not least is third oldest brother Percy Ignatius Weasley. He was born on the 22 August, 1976," He was tall and thin like Bill, with the vivid red hair and freckles. He also tried to carry himself in a dignified manner, although he came off looking pretentious and silly.

"He decided to tag along and see what sort of person we might consider friends." George finally finished with a grin.

"Dear brothers of ours, allow us to introduce our friends Hephaestus Judum Peverell and Dallas Compedus Wilkes. They are cousins by their mothers." The twins said together and Hephaestus could only let out a small sigh and shake his head with a grin at the use of their full names like that. He did file away that the three brothers seemed somewhat shocked by their names for later though.

"A pleasure to meet you," He held out his hand to Bill while Dallas greeted Charlie. And then greeted Charlie and Percy.

"For the sake of pleasantries please allow me to properly introduce our friends Nymphadora Tonks but please call her Norma, and our newest friend Neville Longbottom,"

Shortly after that they were all quick to order ice creams for themselves and talked.

It proved to be a fine day. The three oldest Weasley's proved to be as great a company as the Twins. Bill talked about ancient magicks and how fascinating it would be. Charlie seemed to be the go to for knowledge on dragons and dangers creatures. And it was proven that Percy could be more fun than he first looked. Norma caused more than a few chuckles tripping over nothing but Bill and Charlie seemed to have quick enough reflexes to catch her after the first time. And Neville seemed to stutter less as the day went by.

The group showed the birthday boys some more games and they had an impromptu picnic lunch in Parkside, where once they told them of their new brooms, Bill and Charlie promised to teach them how to fly before school started again. And by the time the others had to leave, they had gained three new acquaintances if not friends.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** XD I hadn't planned to bring Nev in for some time. But it just sort of happened. That seems to keep happening right now. Around all my dot-points and basic ideas, other thing just keep falling in.

On the other hand, another reason this has taken so long is that right now my head keeps being bombarded with ideas and thoughts for other stories. And its been so hard to keep my focus to a minimum of two or three while jumping between them.


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